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FEOM  THINGS 


TO  GOD 


BY 


DAVID  H.  GREER,  D.  D. 

Bector  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Church,'  New  York 


NEW  YORK 
THOMAS   WHITTAKER 

2  AND  3  Bible  House 


Copyright,  1893, 

by 

THOMAS   WHITTAKER. 


THE  CAXTON  PRESS 
NEW  YORK. 


PEEFAOE. 


The  sermons  in  tliis  volume  were  preached 
witliout  notes.  They  were  taken  down  in  short- 
hand at  the  time  of  their  delivery,  and  are 
printed  as  they  were  reported.  Their  style,  there- 
fore, is  that  of  spoken  and  not  written  dis- 
course, and  does  not  so  easily  lend  itself  to 
print.  Any  attempt  to  change  it,  however, 
would  have  involved  not  only  a  difl&cult  but  an 
almost  impossible  task.  Neither  would  it  have 
been  desirable.  The  chief  effectiveness  of  a  ser- 
mon is  after  all  the  personality  of  the  speaker, 
and  while  it  is  difficult  to  import  this  into  the 
i:)rinted  page,  it  can  be  done  more  fully  by 
preserving  than  by  trying  to  change  the  original 
form  of  utterance.  As  sermons  therefore  and 
not  essays  these  discourses  are  printed,  and  it 
only  remains  to  be  said  that  the  purpose  of  the 
author  in  publishing  them  is  precisely  the  same 


iv  PREFACE. 

as  that  wliich  lie  had  in  preaching  them  :  to  try- 
to  make  men  see  that  even  the  commonest  life 
has  in  it  something  divine,  and  to  help  them  a 
little  in  the  midst  of  their  daily  affairs  to 
pass  from  "Things  to  God." 


OOIS'TENTS. 


FAQB 

From  Things  to  God, 1 

The  PERsoNAii  Dominion  of  Christ,     ....  14 

What  is  Truth — A  Study  in  Method,     .       .         .       .  26 

The  Ladder  op  Life, 39 

Faith  and  Machinert, 53 

The  Coming  of  the  Kingdom  op  God,  ....  69 

The  Christian  and  the  Theatre, 82 

Hiding  from  God, 98 

Mastership, 113 

Walking  with  God  To-dat, 123 

The  Moral  Conflict  ;  and  its  Significance,          .       .  137 

Building  the  Temple  of  God, 151 

Preferring  Our  Own  Way  to  God's,        ....  164 

The  True  Vision  and  the  False  Seer,         .       .       .  176 

Sm,  AND  ITS  Deliverer, 190 

Conscience, 204 

Going  on  Journeys  to  Find  Christ,          ....  215 

The  Man  and  the  Priest, 226 

Visions, 338 

Christ  Greater  than  Oxm  Thought  of  Him,       .       .  253 

The  Gospel  of  the  Resurrection,    .....  265 

V 


PROM  THINGS  TO  GOD. 


PROM  THINGS  TO  GOD. 

Therefore  let  no  man  glory  in  men  :  for  all  things  are  yours  ; 
"Whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death, 
or  things  present,  or  tilings  to  come ;  all  are  yours  ;  and  ye  are 
Christ's :  and  Christ  is  God's. — 1  Corinthians  iii.  31-33. 

The  Corinthian  Church,  to  which  these  words 
were  addressed,  was  split  up,  as  you  know,  into 
parties  and  consumed  with  jealousies.  St.  Paul 
undertakes  to  correct  this  state  of  tilings,  not  by 
discussing  and  adjusting  the  relative  claims  and 
merits  of  the  different  parties  and  saying  where- 
in each  was  right  and  wherein  each  was  wrong, 
but  by  giving  to  the  members  of  all  of  them  such 
a  conception  of  themselves,  so  large  and  so  sub- 
lime, that  in  the  light  of  its  apprehension  their 
little,  narrow,  partisan  spirit,  with  its  little  can- 
kering jealousies,  would  fade  and  cease  to  be. 
"You  do  not  belong  to  parties,"  he  says;  "to 
partisan  schools  and  opinions,  to  partisan  leaders 
and  teachers,  you  do  not  belong  to  them  ;  they 
belong  to  you,  and  all  their  thoughts  and  utter- 


2  FROM  THINGS  TO   GOD. 

ances,  all  their  gifts  and  powers,  all  their  things 
are  yours.  Yes,"  he  goes  on  to  say,  his  mind 
having  once  started  in  that  direction,  "all  other 
things  are  yours,  of  the  world,  of  life,  of  death, 
things  present,  things  to  come — all  are  yours,  and 
ye  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's."  From 
things,  to  man,  to  Christ,  to  God — that  is  St. 
Paul's  conception  of  the  ascending  order  of  the 
universe  and  of  man's  position  in  it ;  let  us  take 
his  thought  this  morning,  and  try  to  read  it 
after  him. 

"All  things  are  yours."  When  St.  Paul  said 
that  to  the  men  of  his  time  it  was  a  prophecy. 
To-day  it  is  fast  becoming  a  prophecy  fulfilled, 
and  we  see  now  as  then  they  did  not  see,  or 
did  not  see  as  clearly  as  we  see  now,  how  true  it 
is  that  the  earth  and  all  things  in  it  are  indeed 
the  property  of  and  do  belong  to  man.  They 
belong  to  him,  as  we  are  seeing  now,  in  the  first 
place  by  a  right  of  ancestral  relationship,  by  a 
kind  of  blood  afiinity,  or  kindred  link  and  tie. 
For  whether  he  be  regarded  as  having  come  out 
of  the  earth  by  a  process  of  special  creation  or  a 
process  of  gradual  growth,  he  is  in  either  case 
the  product  of  the  earth,  and  all  the  varied 
faculties  of  all  the  living  forms  which  the  earth 
itself  contains,  are  seen  and  reflected  in  him. 


FEOM  THINGS   TO  GOD.  3 

*'  Hints  and  previsions  of  which  faculties 
Are  strewn  confusedly  everywhere  about 
The  inferior  natures,  all  lead  up  higher  : 
All  shape  out  dimly  the  superior  race, 
And  man  appears  at  last, 
The  consummation  of  this  scheme  of  being  ; 
The  completion  of  this  sphere  of  life 
Whose  attributes  had  here  and  there  been  scattered 
O'er  the  visible  world  before. 
Dim  fragments  meant 
To  be  united  in  some  wondrous  whole, 
Imperfect  qualities  throughout  creation. 
Suggesting  some  one  creature  yet  to  make, 
Some  point  where  all  these  scattered  rays  should  meet 

convergent 
In  the  faculties  of  man." 

And  we  are  seeing  to-day  how  true  it  is,  as  St. 
Paul  himself  so  long  ago  declared,  that  man  is 
indeed  the  heir  of  all  the  things  and  all  the 
forms  which  all  the  earth  contains  ;  that  by  the 
right  of  pedigree,  by  the  right  of  ancestry,  by 
the  right  of  descent  and  lineage,  they  do  belong 
to  him,  they  do  belong  to  us. 

And  they  belong  to  us,  too,  by  possession  as 
well  as  by  inheritance ;  or  they  are  coming  so 
to  belong  to  us. 

"  Canst  thou  perceive  the  breadth  of  the 
earth  ?  "  exclaimed  the  patriarch  Job,  as  though 
he  were  stating  some  hopeless  and  impos- 
sible task,  and  lo,  we  have  almost  spanned 
the  skies.     "Canst   thou  send   out   the    light- 


4  FROM  THINGS  TO  GOD. 

nings  ? "  lie  says  again,  "  that  they  should  go  and 
be  thy  servants,  and  say  to  thee,  Here  we  are." 
That  is  precisely  what  we  have  done.  And  we 
have  bent  the  bow  of  Arcturus,  and  the  sweet 
influence  of  the  Pleiades  we  have  succeeded  in 
binding  down  to  our  practical  purposes  in  life,  as 
on  all  the  waters  around  the  globe  we  sail.  And 
the  way  of  the  wind  we  know,  and  the  path  of 
the  cloud,  and  the  secret  springs  of  the  seas,  and 
the  place  where  light  dwelleth  we  do  in  a 
measure  know,  and  nearly  all  the  forces  of 
nature  we  have  gathered  up  into  our  strong  right 
hand,  and  are  using  at  our  will.  And  as  the 
heirs  of  all  the  ages  in  the  foremost  files  of  time 
all  things  are  ours  to-day,  of  the  world  of  life, 
of  death.  Yes,  even  of  death — and  the  treas- 
ures of  gold  and  silver  which  those  who  have  pre- 
ceded us  have  fought  and  died  to  accumulate, 
and  the  wisdom  and  the  knowledge  and  the 
experience  and  the  apprehensions  of  truth  which 
they  have  fought  and  died  to  obtain,  and  the 
battles  for  civil  liberty,  for  personal  freedom  in 
thought,  speech,  action,  which  they  have  fought 
and  died  to  win ;  yes  the  things  of  death  are 
ours  as  well  as  the  things  of  life.  They  have 
made  us  rich  and  great  and  strong,  and  will 
hereafter   make   us  more  so,  for  not  only  are 


FROM   THINGS   TO   GOD.  5 

things  present  ours,  but  the  things  to  come  will 
be  ours,  and  will  give  their  glory  and  abundance 
to  us  and  minister  to  our  wealth. 

Well,  then,  as  much  as  that  of  the  apostle's 
declaration  when  he  says,  "All  things  are 
yours,"  we  are  able  to-day  to  read  ;  as  far  as  that 
in  the  movement  and  course  of  his  ascending 
thought  we  are  able  to  follow  him. 

But  more  than  that  he  says,  and  higher  than 
that  he  climbs  ;  can  we  go  on  and  read  the  rest  of 
the  sentence  after  him  ?  Can  we  we  go  on  and 
climb  the  rest  of  the  way  with  him?  "All 
things  are  yours,  and  ye" — oh,  wonderful  thought 
and  helpful;  great,  uplifting,  inspiring — "and 
ye  with  all  your  things,  with  all  your  things, 
are  Christ's."  From  them,  to  us,  to  Him, — from 
things,  to  man,  to  Christ. 

We  are  talking  about  property  right  to-day  ; 
that  is  the  length  of  the  tenure  line  and  that 
is  where,  in  Jesus  Christ,  all  property  right 
is  lodged.  We  own  and  we  are  owned.  Look- 
ing down  we  are  masters ;  looking  up  we  are 
servants,  and  as  all  things  belong  to  us,  so  do 
we  with  all  our  things  belong  to  Jesus  Christ. 
Now,  observe,  he  does  not  say  that  we  ought  to 
belong  to  Christ  or  that  we  ought  to  be  Christ's. 
"You    are    Christ's,"   he   says.      Whether  we 


6  FROM  THINGS  TO  GOD. 

know  it  or  not,  whether  we  confess  it  or  not, 
our  acknowledgment  of  it  does  not  make  it  any 
more  true ;  our  failure  to  acknowledge  it  does 
not  make  it  any  less  true.  No  matter  what 
we  do,  no  matter  where  we  are,  in  the  Church 
or  out  of  it,  baptized  or  unbaptized,  confirmed  or 
unconfirmed,  the  fact  remains  :  we  are  Christ's, 
and  we  cannot  change  that  fact.  We  may 
refuse  to  recognize  it ;  we  may  try  to  live  as 
though  it  were  not  so,  and  we  may  succeed  in 
living  as  though  it  were  not  so  ;  but  what  we 
think  or  do  or  fail  to  do  about  a  thing  does  not 
make  the  thing  different  from  what  the  thing  is, 
and  according  to  St.  Paul  the  thing  here  is  this  : 
we  are  Christ's — his  property,  he  owns  us,  we 
are  his. 

What  do  we  call  it  when  we  take  away  a 
man's  property,  when  we  hold  it  back  in  our 
keeping  and  won't  let  him  have  it  ?  We  have  a 
word  for  it,  we  call  it  robbery.  And  that, 
just  that,  I  think,  St.  Paul  teaches  and  the 
whole  Bible  teaches,  is  what  a  person  does 
when  he  refuses  to  let  Jesus  Christ  take  posses- 
sion of  him.  He  is  robbing  Jesus  Christ,  he  is 
taking  away  his  property  from  him  or  holding 
it  back  and  depriving  him  of  his  own.  It  is 
just  because,  it  seems  to  me,  this  is  not  more 


FROM   THINGS   TO   GOD.  7 

clearly  and  generally  understood  and  recognized, 
tliat  there  is  a  hesitancy  on  the  part  of  so 
many  people  to  make  a  public  confession, 
acknowledgment,  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  come  into 
and  join,  as  it  is  called,  and  unite  with  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  They  seem  to  think  that  in  doing 
so,  by  that  step,  by  that  act,  by  that  public  con- 
fession, they  are  becoming  Jesus  Christ's,  and 
thus  and  then  and  there  making  themselves 
belong  to  and  the  property  of  Jesus  Christ.  And 
they  shrink  a  little  from  the  responsibility  of 
that  belonging  to  Jesus  Christ  and  what  it 
imposes  and  involves,  and  lest  thereafter  they 
should  not  be  able  to  live  consistently  with  it 
and  so  invite  some  censure  and  bring  reproach 
upon  him.  But  they  are  Christ's  now,  his 
property  now,  they  belong  to  him  now.  Is  it 
not  a  censurable,  reproachful,  and  inconsistent 
thing  to  refuse  to  say  that  they  are  ?  It  is  some- 
thing even  to  make  an  acknowledgment  of  a  just 
debt ;  it  is  usually  the  first  step  toward  the  pay- 
ment of  it,  and  certainly  it  is  not  worse  but 
better  to  try  to  pay  and  fail,  than  not  to  try  to 
pay  it  or  even  to  make  an  acknowledgment  of  it. 
Think  about  that,  some  of  you. 

But  let  us  go  on  and  consider  what  this  belong- 
ing to  Jesus  Christ  really  is,  what  it  means  to  us, 


8  FEOM  THINGS   TO   GOD. 

and  what  it  is  that  it  does  for  us  when  we  once 
come  to  realize  and  to  be  conscious  of  it. 

Climbing  up  through  the  scale  of  being  only  to 
ourselves,  and  going  no  higher  than  that,  and 
looking  no  higher  than  that,  we  do  not  really 
know  ourselves  nor  see  the  meaning  of  things. 
Like  some  little  child  at  school  who  does  not 
and  cannot  understand,  or  understands  but  dimly 
the  deep,  far-reaching  reason  and  necessity  of 
his  tasks,  and  would  like  if  he  could  to  escape 
them  ;  we  cannot  appreciate,  we  cannot  perceive 
and  grasp  the  deep,  far-reaching  reason  or 
disciplinary  necessity  that  lies  concealed  in  our 
tasks.  Or  like  some  soldier  in  battle,  who  in 
the  thick  of  the  smoke  of  the  conflict  is  not  able 
to  recognize  clearly  and  to  discriminate  between 
the  different  forms  which  he  sees  advancing  to- 
ward him,  and  thinks  that  his  friends  are  ene- 
mies, and  his  enemies  friends  ;  looking  at  things 
as  we  are  wrestling  with  them,  we  will  surely 
make  the  same  mistake,  and  think  that  those 
which  are  really  happening  to  us  for  our  good  are 
happening  for  our  hurt,  or  that  those  which  are 
happening  for  our  hurt  are  happening  for  our 
good. 

Yes,  simply  looking  at  things  from  the  point 
of  view  of  ourselves,  how  can  we  understand 


FROM  THINGS   TO   GOD.  9 

tliem  ;  how  can  we  put  a  right  and  true  appraise- 
ment on  them  ?  How  could  the  little  seed  or 
the  life  that  is  latent  in  it  understand  the  things 
that  liai^pen  to  it — the  decayings,  the  perishings, 
the  destructions,  the  crumblings  away,  in  its 
deep,  dark,  prison  house,  unless  it  could  look 
on  and  see  that  larger,  greater,  more  abundant 
life  ;  that  life  of  the  beautiful  flower,  that  life 
of  the  golden  grain,  that  life  of  the  ripened  fruit 
to  which  it  belongs,  and  which  all  its  happenings 
are  for  ? 

How  could  the  life  of  the  world  in  winter  see 
and  understand  the  things  that  are  happening 
to-day — the  cold,  the  frost,  the  ice-morsels,  and 
the  shrouds  of  snow  around  it — unless  it  could 
look  on  beyond  its  immediate  self  to  the  rich  and 
radiant  life  of  the  summer's  bloom  and  splendor, 
with  which  it  is  connected,  to  which  it  is  moving 
on,  in  which  it  is  fulfilled,  and  which,  through 
all  these  wintry  things  and  all  these  dark  and 
cloudy  things,  it  is  getting  ready  to  come. 

Ah,  how  can  you  and  I  understand  the  things 
that  are  happening  now  to  us — the  dark,  the  cold, 
the  wintry  things,  as  well  as  the  bright,  the  joy- 
ous, and  the  summer  things — unless  we  can  send 
our  vision  up  to  some  great  height  beyond  us,  to 
some  great  life  above  us,  toward  which  they  are 


10  FROM   THINGS   TO   GOD. 

all  determining,  toward  wliicli  they  trend  and 
go,  and  see  in  that  the  object  which  all  these 
things  are  for.  From  things,  to  man,  to  Christ. 
From  them,  to  ns,  to  Him  !  and  looking  at  them 
from  there,  we  begin  to  know  them  a  little  and 
only  then  do  we  know  them.  Seeing  in  him  the 
life  to  which  they  are  committed,  to  which  they 
all  belong,  we  put  new  values  on  them  and  see 
new  meanings  in  them.  Those  sorrows  and  joys, 
those  tasks  and  treasures,  which  come  from 
the  world  and  are  given  to  us  by  life,  and  those 
experiences  that  come  from  bereavement  and 
which  have  been  taught  us  by  death,  they  are 
ours,  yes — but  that  is  not  all — and  we  are  Christ's. 
Seeing  that  and  knowing  that,  we  then  know  how 
to  regard  them  ;  we  then  know  what  they  are 
meant  to  do — not  to  make  U3  a  little  bit  richer  or 
more  prosperous  than  our  fellows,  and  stoj)ping 
and  ending  there,  not  to  make  us  poor,  or  poorer, 
not  to  make  us  comfortable  or  uncomfortable, 
not  to  make  us  light  of  heart,  not  to  make  us 
sad.  Their  aim  is  far  beyond  all  that,  and  like 
St.  Paul  they  seem  to  say,  and  looking  at  them 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  life  of  Christ,  we 
seem  to  hear  them  say,  ' '  Whether  we  are  bright 
or  dark  to  you  now,  whether  things  of  life  or 
things  of  death,  forgetting  what  has  been  already 


FROM   THINGS   TO   GOD.  H 

accomplished  in  you,  this  one  thing  we  do  and 
we  were  meant  to  do,  to  press  you  on,  to  drive 
you  on,  to  bring  you  nearer  to  Jesus  Christ,  to 
lift  you  np  more  and  more  through  sunshine 
and  cloud,  through  poverty  and  wealth,  through 
all  things — to  lift  you  up  to  the  high  and  emi- 
nent place  to  which  you  really  belong." 

Then  we  begin  to  understand  them  a  little, 
we  begin  to  see  some  light.  Then  we  begin 
to  understand  ourselves  a  little — those  deep 
and  fervent  longings  which  in  our  hearts  at 
times  we  do  so  strongly  feel ;  those  dumb  yearn- 
ings, prayings,  passionate  aspirations,  earnest 
searchings  after  something,  we  know  not  what 
exactly — we  understand  them  a  little.  We  see 
the  meaning  of  them,  those  tremblings  and  quiver- 
ings of  the  soul,  as  though  it  were  on  the  margin 
of  some  deep  and  mystic  joy,  as  though  the 
breath  of  some  infinite  life  had  touched  it : 
feelings,  aspirations  which  we  cannot  voice,  and 
which  we  call  on  music  and  song,  and  heaven 
and  earth,  and  beauty  and  religion,  and  united 
prayer  and  worship  and  praise,  to  help  us 
to  express.  It  seems  to  me  that  what  it  all 
means  is  this,  that  there  is  something  higher  in 
the  scale  of  being  than  that  point  to  which  as 
yet  we  have  been  able  to  come,  that  to  something 


13  FROM   THINGS   TO   GOD. 

greater,  better,  more,  we  do  in  fact  belong;  "ye 
are  Christ's  "  it  means,  and  Christ's  mighty  spirit 
is  stirring  in  our  hearts.  It  is  his  life  we  feel,  his 
voice  we  hear,  seeming  to  say,  as  he  is  so  are  we, 
or  so  at  least  we  will  be.  And  the  little  buried 
seed  will  ripen  into  the  rich  golden  grain,  and 
the  wintry  earth  will  burst  and  break  and  laugh 
at  last  in  the  summer's  beauty  and  bloom  ;  and 
the  hopes  and  the  aspirations  which  the  winter's 
frost  and  snow  cannot  kill  in  us  but  only  seem 
to  intensify,  will  be  fulfilled  in  Christ. 

That  is  the  message,  men  and  women,  it  seems 
to  me  which  the  Christian  gospel  brings  to  us. 
It  shows  us  what  that  is  to  which  we  really  be- 
long ;  it  says  to  us,  "You  do  not  belong  to  a 
life  that  is  poor  and  weak,  and  worldly  and 
selfish ;  you  do  not  belong  to  sin  and  pride  and 
jealousy  and  strife ;  oh,  see  the  great  and 
wonderful  life  which  the  gospel  story  proclaims; 
the  life  that  has  conquered  sin,  the  life  that 
many  of  us  believe  has  conquered  death  ;  the  life 
that  has  moved  so  luminously  across  earth's 
darkened  sky,  that  has  given  such  cheer  and 
courage  to  darkened  hearts  and  homes — that  is 
the  life  to  which  you  really  belong. 

"  Ye  are  Christ's,"  ye  are  Christ's,  is  its  ringing 
cry  ;  and — Christ  is  God's.     For  nowhere  in  the 


FROM   THINGS   TO   GOD.  13 

universe,  on  its  loftiest  eminence,  on  its  highest 
ground,  is  there  anything  more  divine  than  that 
life  of  Christ.  Trying  to  live  that  life,  and  day 
after  day  to  make  it  ours,  not  in  name  merely 
but  in  fact,  we  more  and  more  realize  that 
we  are  moving  on  and  on,  we  know  not  where 
exactly,  but  toward  what  is  most  divine  in  the 
universe.  We  are  not  going  down  to  loss  and 
waste,  but  going  up  to  permanency  and  gain ; 
not  going  down  to  defeat,  but  going  up  to 
victory ;  not  going  down  to  death,  but  going 
up  to  life :  and  more  and  more  we  feel  that 
the  trend  of  all  creation  is  toward  the  very 
highest,  is  toward  the  very  best — from  things  to 
man,  to  Christ,  to  God ;  who 

"Dwells  in  all 
From  life's  minute  beginnings,  up  at  last 
Toman  .    ,    . 

And,  man  produced,  all  has  its  end  thus  far 
But  in  completed  man  begins  anew 
A  tendency  to  God." 


THE  PERSOISrAL  DOMINION  OF    CHRIST. 

Jesv^   Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  forever. — 
Hebrews  xiii.  8. 

Eighteen  hundred  years  ago  St.  Paul  wrote 
to  the  Corinthian  Christians  "the  fashion  of  this 
world  passeth  away,"  and  all  human  history  is 
an  illustration  of  and  a  commentary  upon  the 
truth  of  his  words.  Change  and  decay  are  the 
order  of  human  life,  and  things  which  are  aj^par- 
ently  immovable  are  not  able  to  stand  '"gainst 
the  tooth  of  time  and  razure  of  oblivion." 
There  are  certain  periods,  however,  in  the  his- 
tory of  mankind,  when  the  changes  in  society 
are  exceptionally  rapid  and  radical.  Such  a 
period  was  the  fourth  century  of  the  Christian 
era,  was  the  century  of  the  Schoolmen,  was  the 
century  of  the  Crusaders,  was  the  century  of  the 
Reformation,  and  such  a  period  seems  to  be  this 
nineteenth  century  also,  which  has  witnessed 
both  more  numerous  and  rapid  if  not  more  radi- 
cal changes,  in  certain  directions  at  least,  than 
any  other  period  of  equal  duration  in  the  whole 
previous  history  of  mankind . 

14 


THE   PERSONAL   DOMINION   OF   CHRIST.  15 

Naturally,  therefore,  at  such  a  time  as  this, 
when  so  many  and  great  changes  are  taking 
place  in  society,  in  the  Church  and  in  the  State, 
when  no  change  seems  to  surprise  us  any  more, 
and  we  are  only  surprised  if  after  the  lapse  of  a 
little  while  no  great  change  occurs — naturally, 
I  say,  at  such  a  time  as  this  we  are  disposed  to 
inquire  what  is  there  that  will  not  change ;  to 
which  Ave  can,  in  the  midst  of  things  that  are 
passing  away,  with  a  feeling  of  security  cling, 
and  upon  which  we  may  with  a  proper  con- 
fidence rest.  It  is  in  resx3onse  to  this  line  of 
inquiry  that  I  will  ask  you  this  morning  to  con- 
sider, first,  the  fact  itself,  and  then  the  signifi- 
cance of  it,  that,  despite  all  the  changes  that 
have  taken  place  in  the  past,  that  are  taking 
place  in  the  present,  or  that  will  take  place  in 
the  future,  Jesus  Christ  has  been,  is,  and  in  my 
judgment  always  will  be,  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
forever,  the  one  abiding  factor  in  the  ever  chang- 
ing economy  of  our  human  life.  I  do  not  mean 
to  say,  of  course,  that  the  speculative  beliefs  of 
man  concerning  Jesus  Christ  have  been  subject 
to  no  variation,  or  that  there  have  been  no  changes 
in  what  is  commonly  called  the  world  of  reli- 
gious opinion,  for  in  the  face  of  facts  that  are 
patent  to  every  intelligent  observer,  how  could  I 


16         THE   PERSONAL   DOMINION   OF   CHRIST. 

or  anyone  truthfully  say  that?  Bufc  what  I 
mean  is  this  : 

The  personal  dominion  of  Christ  over  the 
hearts  and  consciences,  over  the  lives  of  men,  by 
all  the  changes  that  have  taken  place,  has  not 
been  in  the  slightest  measure  disturbed,  but  has, 
on  the  contrary,  strengthened  and  increased,  and 
has  widened  more  and  more  "with  the  process 
of  the  suns."  This,  I  maintain,  is  a  histori- 
cal fact.  We  do  not  need  to  i)rove  it ;  it  is 
before  our  eyes  ;  we  can  see  it ;  in  our  immediate 
audience,  we  can  hear  its  voice  ;  and  with  our 
hands  we  can  touch  and  handle  and  come  into 
contact  with  it. 

The  first  disciples  of  Jesus  had  to  walk  by 
faith  in  him.  His  claim  to  a  perpetual  dominion 
they  had  to  take  on  trust,  for  he  had  not  yet  been 
lifted  up  in  the  sight  of  the  world.  His  attract- 
ive power  had  not  been  widely  felt ;  it  had  not 
yet  been  proved.  But  to-day,  it  is  not  so  neces- 
sary to  walk  by  faith  in  Christ.  And  with  the 
manifestations  of  his  power  throughout  all  civili- 
zation and  around  us  on  every  hand,  pervading 
our  best  political  institutions,  permeating  our 
best  social  economy,  leavening  our  literature, 
glorifying  our  art,  inspiring  our  philanthroiDies, 
influencing  more  or  less  the  whole  broad  move- 


THE   PEESOl^AL   DOMINION   OF   CHRIST.  17 

ment  of  our  modern  conduct,  and  emanating 
from  a  character  which,  even  after  the  lapse  of 
nearly  nineteen  centuries,  is  still  regarded  as 
the  ideal  life  of  the  world,  to-day  we  can  walk 
by  sight ;  and  the  personal  dominion  of  Jesus 
Christ,  unexhausted  by  time,  unweakened  by 
social  changes,  unimpaired  by  political  revo- 
lutions or  ecclesiastical  perversions,  is  before  our 
eyes  as  an  unimpeachable  fact. 

But  then,  it  may  be  said,  this  after  all  is  not 
an  exceptional  fact,  for  there  are  other  religions 
in  the  world  besides  the  Christian  religion,  older, 
some  of  them,  and  having  more  disciples.  And 
that  is  true,  but  the  influence  exerted  by  those 
other  religions  is  not  the  personal  influence  of 
their  founders.  They  would,  in  fact,  survive 
without  their  founders. 

Take  away  Mahomet,  and  Islam  still  remains; 
take  away  Buddha,  and  the  "light  of  Asia," 
such  as  it  is,  still  shines  ;  take  away  Zoroaster, 
and  the  fire  still  burns  with  unabated  brightness 
on  the  Persian  altar  and  hilltop  ;  take  away  Con- 
fucius, and  the  primitive  religion  of  the  Celestial 
Empire  is  in  no  way  impaired ;  but  take  away 
Jesus  Christ,  and  Christianity  is  gone.  His  name 
is  stamped  on  every  page  of  the  New  Testament 
writings  and  on  every  chapter  of  ecclesiastical 


18         THE   PEESONAL   DOMINION   OF   CHRIST. 

history ;  it  is  found  in  every  creed,  in  every 
liturgy,  in  every  form  of  worship  ;  for  Christi- 
anity, in  its  essential  and  distinctive  character, 
is  simply  Jesus  Christ  and  the  influence  which  he 
exerts.  And  so,  from  the  very  outset,  wherever 
the  great  tidal  wave  of  the  Christian  religion 
swept  in  its  propagandist  path  among  the  peoples 
of  the  earth,  from  the  shores  of  Palestine,  across 
the  waters  of  the  Mediterranean,  through  the 
mountains  of  Asia  Minor,  along  the  banks  of  the 
Danube  and  the  Tiber,  to  the  far-off  coasts  of 
the  British  Isles,  it  is  the  form  of  the  personal 
Christ  that  is  always  seen  on  the  topmost  crest 
of  the  wave,  commanding  attention,  provoking 
thought,  eliciting  homage  and  love.  While, 
therefore,  there  are  other  religions  in  the  world, 
of  venerable  age  and  with  numerous  disciples,  it 
is  none  the  less  true,  as  Mr.  Lecky  remarks, 
that  "it  was  reserved  for  the  Christian  religion 
to  j)resent  to  the  world  an  ideal  character,  which 
through  all  the  changes  of  eighteen  hundred 
years  has  filled  the  hearts  of  men  with  an  im- 
passioned love,  which  has  shown  itself  to  be 
capable  of  acting  on  all  ages,  nations,  tempera- 
ments, and  conditions,  and  which  has  exerted  so 
deep  an  influence  that  it  may  be  truly  said  that 
the  simple  record  of  three  short  years  of  active 


THE  PERSONAL  DOMINION   OF  CHRIST.         19 

life  lias  done  more  to  regenerate  and  soften  man- 
kind than  all  the  disquisitions  of  philosophers 
and  than  all  the  exhortations  of  moralists." 

Let  us  now  go  a  step  farther,  and  consider  the 
significance  of  this  fact.  Seeing  what  Jesus 
Christ  has  been  and  done  in  history  we  can  also 
see  what  he  is.  For  if  it  be  true,  and  I  am  not 
aware  that  it  is  disputed,  that  the  power  of  Jesus 
Christ  has  sliown  itself  to  be  different  from  and 
greater  than  that  of  all  great  men  combined,  it 
must  be  other  than  human ;  it  must  be  divine. 
If  time,  the  great  destroyer  that  weakens  the  in- 
fluence of  everyone  else,  has  not  in  the  least  im- 
paired it,  it  must  have  i^roceeded  from  an  eternal 
source.  Without  any  finite  limitation  to  it,  as 
far  as  we  can  perceive,  in  its  range  of  action,  it 
must  have  proceeded  from  an  infinite  source. 
Overcoming  all  obstacles,  and  obstacles,  too, 
which  others  have  found  insurmountable,  it 
must  have  proceeded  from  something  like  an 
omniiDotent  source.  Without  a  sufficient  and 
adequate  cause  or  explanation  in  human  nature, 
as  we  know  human  nature,  it  must  have  pro- 
ceeded from  an  absolute  source.  Free  from 
every  evil  taint  and  making  exclusively  for 
righteousness,  it  must  have  i^roceeded  from  a 
perfect  source.     Perfect,  absolute,    omnipotent, 


20         THE  PEESONAL   DOMINION   OF   CHEIST. 

infinite,  and  eternal ;  these  the  positive  philoso- 
pher tells  are  unthinkable  terms,  conveying  no 
definite  meaning  to  us  and  which  we  have  no 
right  to  employ.  And  so  perhaps  in  the  abstract, 
and  up  in  the  air,  they  are  unthinkable  terms. 
But  looking  at  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ  on 
the  earth,  at  what  he  has  been  and  done  and  is 
doing  in  human  affairs,  and  comparing  that 
power  with  all  others  that  have  energized  in  his- 
tory, we  can  truly  say,  using  in  part  the  lan- 
guage of  an  English  theologian,  that  while  in 
themselves,  indeed,  these  are  unthinkable  terms, 
yet  so  far  as  we  can  enter  at  all  into  the  compre- 
hension of  them,  we  see  them  in  Jesus  Christ. 
And  for  us  at  least,  and  as  far  as  we  are  con- 
cerned, "the  Absolute  was  born  at  Bethlehem, 
the  Perfect  died  on  Calvary,  the  Omnipotent 
rose  at  Easter,  the  Infinite  ascended  from 
Bethany,  and  the  Eternal  came  down  at  Pen- 
tecost." 

Thus  do  we  reach  the  conviction,  not  by  the 
subtle  processes  of  metaphysical  analysis,  nor  by 
the  delicate  balancings  of  textual  and  critical 
study,  for  which  the  great  majority  of  us  are 
not  qualified,  but  by  observation — by  looking  at 
facts ;  by  the  positive  method  of  historical  re- 
view and  comparison,  that  among  all  the  sons  of 


THE   PEESONAL  DOMINION   OF   CHRIST.         21 

men  there  is  none  like  unto  tlie  Son  of  Man. 
And  the  conviction,  tlie  reasonable  conviction,  is 
forced  upon  us  that  Jesus  Christ,  wielding  a 
sceptre  invincible  and  divine,  is  on  the  throne 
in  this  world,  King  of  kings,  Lord^f  lords,  God 
manifest  in  flesh.  Here,  then,  is  the  fact,  and 
here  is  the  significance  of  it :  The  Kingdom  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  a  perpetual  kingdom,  it  does  not 
pass  away,  and  the  Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  Kingdom  of  God. 

Let  me  now  direct  your  attention  to  some 
lessons  which  the  fact  teaches,  and  first  this: 
In  the  fact  of  the  perpetuity  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Jesus  Christ  in  this  world  we  find  the  true  unity 
of  the  past  and  the  principle  of  continuity 
in  history.  When  the  French  savant,  by  one 
of  those  lucky  guesses,  as  we  are  wont  to  call 
them,  but  which  are  rather  the  inspirations  of 
genius,  hit  upon  the  character  in  the  Rosetta 
stone  which  answered  to  the  royal  name,  he  was 
enabled,  you  remember,  by  that  clew  to  trace 
out  the  whole  hieroglyphic  puzzle.  In  like 
manner,  when  amid  the  strifes  and  antagonisms 
and  conflicting  interests  of  the  past,  we  once  suc- 
ceed in  finding  the  royal  name  of  Christ,  the 
veil  is  taken  away,  the  confusion  is  confusion  no 


22         THE   PERSONAL   DOMINION   OF   CHEIST. 

longer ;  it  resolves  itself  into  order.  We  see 
that  all  the  changes  which  have  taken  place, 
that  all  the  dire  calamities  which  have  been 
experienced  or  victories  which  have  been  won, 
that  all  the  defeats  and  losses  and  overthrows 
which  have  been  encountered,  have  had  the 
effect  ultimately  to  bring  out  more  fully  in  the 
hearts  of  men  and  in  the  social  economy  of  the 
world  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  make  it 
more  widely,  more  profoundly  felt,  to  establish 
more  securely  his  influence  and  kingdom  on  the 
earth,  and  that  all  things  have  been  moving  to 
this  end.  And  this  a^jplies  not  only  to  Christian 
history,  but  to  history  prior  to  the  Christian  era. 
Here  is  the  explanation  of  the  wonderful  story 
of  the  Jewish  nation,  of  the  Greek,  the  Roman, 
the  Egyptian  nation,  of  all  the  nations  of  antiq- 
uity, which  by  their  national  struggles  and 
developments  were  preparing  the  way  for  the 
coming  of  that  Kingdom  of  the  Son  of  Man 
which  came  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  which,  through 
all  the  overturnings  that  mark  the  course  of  the 
past  from  the  earliest  time  to  the  latest,  has  been 
more  and  more  conspicuously  appearing  in  the 
world. 

In  the  perpetuity  of  the  Kingdom   of   Jesus 
Christ  we  find  the  true  unity  of  the  past ;  we 


THE   PERSONAL   DOMINION   OF   CUEIST.  23 

also  find  in  it  tlie  true  hope  for  the  future. 
The  age  in  which  we  are  living  has  witnessed 
many  changes,  material  and  mental,  and  the 
coming  ages  will  doubtless  witness  many  more  ; 
but  the  result  will  be  to  enlarge  and  deepen  the 
dominion  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  world  will 
become  not  worse  than  it  is,  but  better.  Not 
in  the  way,  perhaps,  of  direct  and  continuous 
advance,  but  through  ups  and  downs,  like  the 
course  of  one  who  is  climbing  a  precijoitous  range 
of  mountains,  occasionally  going  down  into  little 
ravines,  stumbling,  falling,  losing  his  way,  and 
making  turns  every  now  and  then  which  tempo- 
rarily reverse  his  i)atli,  and  yet  all  the  while 
steadily  and  slowly  pressing  on  toward  the  dis- 
tant mountain-top,  which  by  and  by  he  reaches, 
gradually  will  Jesus  Christ  gather  all  human  life 
about  him.  All  forms  of  human  pursuit  will 
acknowledge  him,  all  dej^artments  of  human 
knowledge  will  pay  their  tribute  to  him,  all  the 
aspirations  of  the  human  heart,  in  art,  in  letters, 
in  music,  in  philosophy,  in  science,  in  commerce, 
will  reach  their  consummation  in  him,  and  even 
the  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness,  uncertain 
where  to  find  him,  and  which  can  only  say,  "  per- 
form the  immediate  duty  and  be  content  with 
the  wages  which  it  gives  you,"  will  exclaim  at 


24         THE  PEESONAL   DOMINION   OF   CHEIST. 

last  with  peace  and  joy,   "Beliold  the  Lamb  of 
God,"  and  "  Crown  him  Lord  of  all." 

Finally,  in  the  perpetuity  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Jesus  Christ  we  find  not  only  the  true  unity  of 
the  past  and  the  true  hoioe  of  the  future,  but 
also  what  is  the  true  duty  of  the  present  hour. 
And  comprehensively  stated,  what  is  that  but 
to  make  all  human  society,  at  home,  abroad, 
everywhere ;  to  make  all  human  society  in  all 
the  depth  and  breadth  and  intricacy  of  its  com- 
plex relationship,  feel  and  respond  to  the 
supremacy  of  Jesus  Christ?  It  is  indeed  a  large 
and  formidable  task,  requiring  prudence  and 
wisdom  and  good  judgment  and  common  sense, 
as  well  as  enthusiasm  and  zeal.  It  is  a  task 
requiring  all  kinds  of  gifts — scholarship,  wealth, 
knowledge  of  affairs,  administrative  ability, 
power  to  influence  others — and  well  might  we  be 
appalled  at  the  jDroportions  of  it,  if  we  did  not 
remember  these  two  things  :  First,  that  the  Chris- 
tina Church  already  jDossesses  these  gifts.  In 
her  membership  are  to  be  found  to-day  the  great 
majority  of  the  ablest,  wisest,  strongest  men  and 
noblest  women  of  Christendom,  who  have  proved 
themselves  to  be  such,  and  who  can  accomplish 
almost  any  task  to  which  they  earnestly  apply 
themselves  ;    and  second,    that  in  fighting    for 


THE   PERSONAL   DOMINION   OF   CHRIST.  25 

him  wlio  claimed  tlie  homage  of  all  men,  and 
who  for  eighteen  hundred  years  has  been  mak- 
ing good  the  claim,  we  are  fighting,  not  on  the 
losing,  but  on  the  winning  side  !  And  therefore 
we  go  into  the  battle  with  the  inspiration  that  is 
born  of  that  conviction.  With  this  inspiration, 
and  these  qualifications,  let  us  have  the  con- 
sciousness that  we  are  co-workers  with  God  in 
the  fulfillment  of  that  purpose  which  runs 
throughout  all  human  history,  which  has  been 
unfolding  itself  throughout  all  the  ages,  and 
which  will  receive  its  consummation  when  all 
nations,  kindreds,  tribes,  and  tongues  shall  be 
gathered  around  the  throne  of  Christ  and  his 
dominion  shall  be  established  over  all. 

Here,  then,  in  the  midst  of  things  that  are 
passing  away,  is  the  one  abiding  factor  in  hu- 
man life,  to  which  we  can  with  a  feeling  of  secu- 
rity cling,  and  upon  which  we  may  with  a  per- 
fect confidence  rest.  For  despite  all  the  changes 
that  have  taken  place  in  the  past,  that  are  tak- 
ing place  in  the  present,  or  that  will  take  place 
in  the  future,  stands,  and  will  forever  stand,  the 
Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ. 


WHAT  IS  TRUTH— A  STUDY  IN  METHOD. 

Pilate  saith  unto  him.  What  is  truth  ? — St.  John  xviii.  38. 

That  question  of  Pilate's  has  not  ceased  to  be 
asked ;  it  is  asked  now  more  than  it  was  then, 
with  more  persistency,  by  more  people,  concern- 
ing more  things.  The  intellectual  inquisitive- 
ness  is  greater  to-day  and  the  field  of  inquiry 
bigger — so  much  bigger  indeed  that  it  would  be 
a  presumptuous  and  hopeless  task  to  undertake 
to  traverse  it.  I  need  scarcely  say  that  the  pur- 
pose I  have  in  view  is  not  so  wide  and  scattering 
as  that,  and  without  attempting  to  answer  the 
Roman  Governor's  question,  I  simply  want  to 
indicate  the  path  on  which,  in  my  judgment,  a 
person  must  move  in  order  to  reach  an  answer. 
My  aim  is  not  to  show  what  truth  is,  but  the 
way  in  which  to  find  it,  and  the  study  to  which 
I  invite  you  this  morning  is  a  study  in  method. 

What  is  truth  ?  First,  I  remark,  truth  exists. 
That  may  seem  to  some  of  us  like  a  superfluous 
kind  of  statement,  like  saying  the  earth  exists ; 
of  course  it  does.  And  yet  there  are  a  good 
many  people  who  apparently  do  not  believe  that 

26 


WHAT   IS   TRUTH — A   STUDY   IN   METHOD.        27 

truth  exists,  a?id  wlio  ask  that  question  of 
Pilate's,  not  with  the  expectation  of  receiving 
an  answer  to  it,  but  as  he  seems  to  have  asked  it 
— in  the  strong  and  deep  conviction  that  it  does 
not  have  any  answer — a  vain,  empty,  and  useless 
question  which  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  ask, 
or  which,  if  it  is  asked,  is  simply  asked  to  show 
how  hopeless  it  is  to  ask  it. 

There  are  a  good  many  such  people,  I  say. 
They  may  not  be  here  in  this  church  this  morn- 
ing, or  they  may  be,  for  they  sometimes  go  to 
church,  but  they  are  here  numerously  enough  in 
New  York  City.  We  often  meet  and  talk  with 
them,  and  from  their  conversation — sometimes 
from  their  silence — they  make  the  impression 
upon  us,  not  so  much  that  they  are  hostile  to 
religion,  or  even  indifferent  to  it,  but  that  after 
thinking  and  studying  and  inquiring  more  or  less 
about  it,  [they  have  finally  reached  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  religious  problem,  interesting  as  it 
is,  important  as  it  is,  is  a  problem  that  cannot  be 
solved.  This  I  say  is  the  conclusion  they  seem 
to  have  reached,  that  apart  from  what  they  can 
learn  by  a  mathematical  process  or  by  what  is 
called  a  physical  or  scientific  process,  there  is 
nothing  that  can  be  called  truth,  and  that  in  the 
attempt  to  find  it  there  is  no  success  to  be  had. 


28       WHAT   IS   TRUTH — A   STUDY   IN   METHOD. 

Their  state  of  mind  is  fairly  well  represented  by 
the  old  Persian  poet,  who  has  recently  been 
translated  and  brought  to  light  because  his 
words  are  so  expressive  of  the  state  of  mind  of 
many  people  to-day  : 

Myself  when  young'  did  eag-erly  frequent 
Doctor  and  sage,  and  heard  great  argument 
About  it  and  about,  but  e'ermore  came  out 
By  the  same  door  that  in  I  went. 

With  them  the  seed  of  wisdom  did  I  sow, 

And  with  mine  own  hands  wrought  to  make  it  grow  ; 

And  tliis  was  all  the  harvest  that  I  reaped — 

I  came  like  water  and  like  wind  I  go. 

There  was  a  door  to  which  I  found  no  key, 
There  was  a  veil  through  which  I  could  not  see, 
Some  little  talk  awhile  of  thee  and  me — 
And  then  no  more  of  me  and  thee. 

Are  we  not  sometimes  tempted,  my  friends,  to 
have  just  a  little  of  that  feeling  ourselves  ?  When 
we  think  of  all  the  voices,  so  numerous,  so  differ- 
ent, so  conflicting,  so  bewildering,  that  are  sound- 
ing around  us  to-day  ;  the  different  religious 
bodies,  the  different  sects  and  parties,  the  differ- 
ent schools  of  thought  and  the  different  leaders 
in  them,  are  we  not  inclined  to  have  that  feeling 
ourselves?  And  when  we  think  of  tlie  Protes- 
tant and  the  Romanist,  and  the  Anglican  and 
the  Dissenter,  and  the  old  conservative  critic  and 


WHAT   IS   TRUTH- -A   STUDY   IN   METHOD.       29 

tlie  new  progressive  critic,  and  the  different  in- 
terpretations which  they  put  upon  the  Bible, 
and  the  different  things  which  they  see  in  it,  and 
the  different  doctrines  which  they  find,  each  of 
them  claiming  so  stoutly  that  he  alone  is  right 
and  all  the  others  wrong — are  we  not  sometimes 
tempted  to  feel  as  the  Roman  Governor  did, 
and  to  say  with  him  so  hopelessly,  so  despair- 
ingly, "What  is  truth?"  Is  it  not  after  all 
but  the  shadow  of  each  man's  self,  his  prejudice, 
his  preference,  his  temperament — a  vain,  tran- 
sient, fugitive  thing  that  has  no  permanence  in  it, 
and  that  what  is  regarded  by  one  man  or  one  set 
of  men  as  true  to-day  is  rejected  and  denied  by 
the  next  1  and  truth,  what  is  it  ?  Is  it  indeed  at 
all? 

Now,  that  was  the  state  of  mind  of  Pontius 
Pilate's  age,  to  which  in  the  judgment  hall  he 
simply  gave  expression,  and  that  too,  is  the  state 
of  mind,  to  some  extent  at  least,  of  the  age  in 
which  we  live,  and  into  which,  at  times,  we  are  so 
apt  to  be  drawn.  And  yet,  when  we  come  to 
consider  and  examine  it  a  little  more  closely,  we 
find  that  it  is  not  only  an  undesirable  state 
of  mind,  but  a  logically  inconsistent  and  self- 
contradictory  state  of  mind,  and  that  we 
cannot  get    away  from  the    conviction  of   the 


30       WHAT   IS   TRUTH — A   STUDY   IN   METHOD. 

reality  and  the  existence  of  fixed  and  abso- 
lute truth.  Suppose,  for  instance,  a  person 
declares  there  is  no  such  thing  as  truth.  Does 
he  not  at  the  same  time  and  with  the  same 
breath  declare  that  there  is  ?  For  that  at  least  is 
true,  or  that  he  thinks  is  true,  that  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  truth,  and  so  in  denying  it  he 
affirms  it  and  contradicts  himself. 

Suppose  he  says,  again,  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  error.  Then  that  is  true  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  error,  and  to  deny  it  is  an  error,  and 
therefore  there  is  such  a  thing  as  error.* 

Suppose  he  says  again,  yes,  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  truth,  but  then  it  is  unascertainable — 
we  can  never  discover  or  find  it  out  or  know  any- 
thing about  it.  Is  not  that  also  an  inconsistent 
statement  ?  Suj)pose  you  tell  me,  for  instance, 
that  there  is  something  there  back  of  that  chan- 
cel window,  but  that  you  do  not  and  cannot 
know  anything  about  it.  Then  how  do  you 
know  it  is  there  ?  Must  you  not  know  some- 
thing of  what  it  is — not  much,  perhaps,  but  a 
little :  that  it  makes  a  noise  back  there  or  casts 
a  shadow — before  you  can  say  tliat  it  is  ?  Is  it 
not  equally  contradictory  for  a  person  to  say 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  truth,  but  we  do  not  and 

*  See  "  Philosophy  of  Religion,"  by  Professor  Royce. 


WHAT   IS   TKUTH~A   STUDY   IN    METHOD.        31 

cannot  know  anything  about  it?  Then  how  does 
lie  know  that  there  is  such  a  thing  ?  Must  he  not 
have  some  little  knowledge  of  what  it  is — not  much 
perhaps,  but  a  little — in  order  to  say  that  it  is  ? 

Now,  this  may  seem  to  some  of  you  like  an  in- 
genious and  subtle  and  hair-splitting  play  upon 
words,  and  perhaps  not  very  practical.  But  it  is 
not  a  play  ui)on  words,  and  it  serves  to  show  with 
what  invincible  persistency  of  conviction  we  do 
believe  and  cannot  help  believing  in  the  positive 
reality  of  truth,  and  that  when  by  some  sophis- 
tical process  we  try  to  get  away  from  that  con- 
viction, we  only  go  round  in  a  circle  and  come 
back  to  it  again.  We  cannot  get  away  from  it. 
And  my  apology  for  engaging  you  with  this  little 
bit  of  metaphysics,  if  an  apology  be  needed,  is 
the  hope  to  make  it  evident  that  the  state  of  mind 
more  or  less  prevalent  in  our  time,  which  de- 
clares or  seems  to  declare  that  what  we  call 
truth  is  after  all  but  a  matter  of  opinion,  a 
notional,  fugitive,  transient  thing  that  has  no 
permanence  in  it,  is  not  a  reasonable  state  of 
mind,  but  logically  inconsistent  and  self -contra- 
dictory ;  that  we  cannot  get  away  from  the  con- 
viction, even  when  we  seem  to,  that  somewhere 
in  the  universe  there  is  to  be  found  an  absolute, 
fixed  standard  of  truth. 


32       WHAT   IS   TRUTH — A   STUDY   IN   METHOD. 

Well,  how  can  we  find  it  ?  This  part  of  the  sub- 
ject is  not  so  metaphysical ;  how  can  we  find  it  ? 
To  what  doctor  or  teacher  or  book  or  scholar 
or  sect  or  party  shall  we  go  ?  Our  Roman 
Catholic  friend  has  an  answer  ready  for  us  and 
says,  Listen  to  the  voice  of  the  Pope,  for  he  is 
infallible  and  speaks  with  an  infallible  A^oice. 
But  how  are  we  to  find  out  that  he  is  infallible  ? 
Simply  because  he  says  so  ?  Surely  not,  and  we 
shall  need  some  other  infallible  voice  to  tell  us 
that  he  is  infallible. 

Our  Presbyterian  friend  says,  Listen  to  the 
voice  of  Calvin.  But  there  seems  to  be  some  dif- 
ference of  opinion  among  our  Presbyterian 
friends,  which  may  become  serious,  as  to  what 
the  voice  of  Calvin  is. 

Our  Episcopal  friend  says.  Listen  to  the  voice 
of  the  Church.  But  what  voice  of  the  Church  ? 
For  it  is  not  always  perfectly  clear  to  every  per- 
son what  the  voice  of  the  Church  is,  or  where 
we  find  it  expressed. 

Now,  all  these  voices  and  utterances  are  good 
enough  in  their  way.  Each  of  them  perhaps 
teaches  some  little  measure  of  truth  and  reveals 
some  aspect  of  it.  Yet  from  the  very  nature  of 
the  case  it  is  only  a  partial  aspect.  No  man,  no 
body  of  men,  no  age,  no  school  of  thought,  is 


WHAT  IS   TRUTH— A   STUDY   IN   METHOD.        33 

able  to  reflect  it  fiillj^,  but  can  only  see  a  frag- 
ment of  what  is  right  and  true.  Its  observation 
is  limited  to  its  point  of  view,  and  when  its  point 
of  view  is  changed  its  observation  is  changed. 
You  remember  Matthew  Arnold's  words  : 

The  outspread  world  to  span 

A  cord  the  gods  first  slung, 
And  then  the  soul  of  man 
I    There  like  a  mirror  hung ; 
And  bade  the  winds  through  space 

Impel  the  gusty  toy. 
Hither  and  thither  spins 

The  wind-borne  mirroring  soul, 
A  thousand  glimpses  wins 

But  never  sees  the  whole  ; 
Looks  once,  drives  elsewhere, 
And  leaves  its  last  employ. 

Now  if  we  could  only  reach  some  point  of  view, 
or  if  someone  could  come  and  take  us  up  to 
a  lofty  height  where  we  could  with  our  vision 
sweep  the  whole  of  the  scene;  where  we  could 
look  at  things,  not  through  the  medium  of  one 
particular  time  or  one  particular  age, — as  they 
are  apt  by  it  to  be  dwarfed  or  unduly  enlarged  and 
emphasized  and  seen  out  of  right  proportion  and 
relation  to  other  things, — but  through  the  me- 
dium of  all  the  times, — the  fourth,  the  sixteenth, 
the  nineteenth,  the  twentieth  century  and  away 
beyond,  then  I  think  we  would  be  in  a  position 
to  see  them  as  they  are.     Or  if  we  could  look  at 


34       WHAT   IS   TRUTH — A   STUDY   IN   METHOD, 

tliem  with  the  mind  of  one  who,  though  born 
in  a  particular  age,  however  remote,  is  yet  felt 
to  be  the  contemporary  and  companion  of  all 
the  ages,  and  who  seems  to  speak  to  and  see  and 
live  among  them  all — then  it  seems  to  me  we 
would  have  discovered  the  true  method  by  which 
to  search  for  truth,  the  point  of  view  from  which 
to  look,  the  path  on  which  to  move  in  order  to 
see  and  find  it,  and  then  more  and  more  we 
would  continue  to  find  it. 

Now,  is  not  that  precisely  the  mind  of  Jesus 
Christ  ?  Is  not  that  the  point  of  view  and  the 
method  of  Jesus  Christ?  It  has  been  pointed 
out  as  a  remarkable  thing  in  Shakspere  that 
although  he  lived  at  a  period  when  there  was  so 
much  of  local  interest  transpiring  in  England, 
both  in  the  Church  and  State, — the  great 
throes  and  struggles  of  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion, great  political  intrigues  and  wars  at  home 
and  abroad, — there  is  yet  so  little  of  it  reflected 
in  his  writings.  His  characters  are  simply  men 
and  women ;  not  men  and  women  with  the  dress 
and  the  fashion  and  the  gait  and  the  manner 
of  that  particular  time,  but  men  and  women 
always.  It  is  the  great  cardinal  passions  of  the 
universal  human  nature — its  hates,  its  loves,  its 
rivalries,  its  jealousies — of  which  he  treats  and 


WHAT   IS   TRUTH — A   STUDY   IK   METHOD.        35 

speaks  ;  lience  he  speaks  to  all  the  ages,  and  men 
and  women  everywhere  find  in  him  a  voice. 

Pre-eminently  was  this  true  of  one  far  greater 
than  Shakspere.  Living  among  a  people  whose 
minds  were  much  disturbed  by  great  burning 
questions  of  the  day — questions  concerning  the 
policy  to  be  pursued  abroad,  or  to  be  pursued  at 
home  ;  questions  concerning  deliverance  from  the 
oppressive  power  of  Csesar  and  the  payment  of 
taxes  to  him  ;  questions  concerning  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  the  temple  and  the  traditions  of 
the  elders ;  questions  concerning  parties  and 
their  relative  merits  and  claims,  the  Sadducees 
and  the  Pharisees  and  the  Essenes — questions 
about  which  all  Israel  at  the  time  was  deeply 
and  engrossingly  concerned,  and  yet  he  does  not 
speak  of  them ;  he  has  little  or  nothing  to  say 
about  them.  He  rises  above  them  all,  calling 
himself,  not  son  of  David  or  son  of  Abraham, 
but  simply  Son  of  Man.  He  seems  to  see  and 
touch  and  feel  the  great  universal  human  life, 
as  it  throbs  in  every  people  and  beats  in  every 
age,  and  the  voice  with  which  he  speaks  is  a 
voice  for  sons  of  men.  He  gathers  his  disciples 
about  him  and  in  the  quietest,  simplest  way  tells 
them  what  to  expect  when  he  has  gone  away, 
and  what  will  happen  to  them.     He  says  that 


36       WHAT   IS   TRUTH — A   STUDY   IN   METHOD. 

though  the  earth  itself  should  be  dissolved  and 
the  heavens  rolled  up  like  a  scroll,  his  word  will 
still  endure.  He  does  not  seem  to  be  living  and 
walking  so  much  in  Galilee  and  Judea,  as  on  the 
great  highway  of  the  ages,  and  he  looks  forward 
to  the  time  when  they  shall  come,  not  a  few 
peasants  and  fishermen  and  some  Galilean 
women,  but  from  the  east,  west,  north,  south, 
and  sit  at  his  feet  and  learn  of  him  as  in  some 
great  kingdom  of  God. 

When  upon  one  occasion  the  Emperor  Jus- 
tinian was  about  to  surrender  to  the  clamor- 
ous claims  and  the  harsh  and  violent  demands 
of  the  mob,  his  wife  Theodora  is  rejDresented 
to  have  said  to  him  that  it  was  better  to 
meet  and  go  down  to  death  as  the  avowed 
ruler  of  all,  than  purchase  life  for  a  little  while 
by  yielding  to  the  unworthy  exactions  of  the 
unrighteous  few,  and  empire,  she  tells  him, 
"is  the  best  winding-sheet."  Empire,  universal 
empire,  throughout  all  the  world,  throughout  all 
the  ages,  is  the  winding-sheet  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Victorious  in  the  wilderness,  victorious  in  Geth- 
semane,  before  that  worldly-minded  Governor  in 
the  judgment  hall,  victorious  on  the  Cross,  be- 
cause his  eye  looked  not  upon  the  unworthy 
demands  of  the  immediate   occasion,  but  upon 


WHAT   IS   TRUTH — A   STUDY   IN   METHOD.        37 

the  everlasting  years,  upon  all  future  times,  and 
wrapped  around  liim  in  the  winding-sheet  of 
empire  does  he  die. 

Here,  then,  is  the  point  of  view  from  which 
to  look  for  truth :  the  point  of  view  of  Jesus 
Christ,  of  him  whose  vision  seemed  to  compre- 
hend in  its  vast  far-reacliing  scope  their  questions 
then  and  ours — the  things,  the  thoughts,  the 
questions  of  men  in  all  the  ages ;  in  whom  not 
the  light  of  a  particular  time  or  a  particular 
land,  but  the  light  of  the  world  apf)ears  ;  whose 
voice  is  not  the  voice  of  truth  as  seen  in  part,  but 
as  seen  in  its  wholeness — the  voice  of  truth  itself. 

Here  is  the  point  of  view — the  point  of  view  of 
Christ — at  which  we  must  try  to  put  ourselves, 
in  order  to  see  what  is  right  and  true.  And  not 
with  the  mind  of  the  fourth  century,  not  with 
the  mind  of  the  sixteenth  century,  not  with  the 
mind  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  with  the 
universal  mind  of  Christ  that  covers  all  the  cen- 
turies, must  we  try  to  solve  the  questions,  the 
vexed  and  vexing  questions  which  are  with  such 
great  urgency  pressing  upon  us  now.  Then  and 
then  alone,  men  and  women,  will  we  more 
and  more  see  and  know  how  we  ought  to  think 
to-day  and  what  we  ought  to  do.  Then  let  us 
take  our  great  modern  life,  with  all  its  great. 


38       WHAT   IS   TRUTH — A   STUDY   IN   METHOD. 

fierce,  burning  questions  and  contentions,  and 
let  us  go  with  it  back  to  Jesus  Christ,  to  look  at 
it  from  his  high,  great,  comprehensive  point  of 
view,  to  learn  of  him  what  is  right  and  true. 

Yes,  let  us  take  our  questions,  our  hard 
personal  questions — questions  concerning  duty 
which  we  cannot  solve  for  ourselves  ;  questions 
concerning  the  world,  the  loss,  the  pain,  the  suf- 
fering of  the  world ;  questions  concerning  life ; 
questions  concerning  death  ;  questions  concern- 
ing the  life  through  which  we  are  passing  now 
and  the  other  life  beyond  toward  which  we  are 
moving  on,  let  us  take  them  all  and  study  them 
in  the  light  of  the  mind  of  Christ  and  in  that 
light  let  us  try  to  find  an  answer  to  them. 

Oh,  great,  wonderful,  universal  Christ,  whose 
voice  has  spoken  to  the  sons  of  men  in  all  ages, 
whose  light  has  illumined,  whose  spirit  has 
guided,  whose  i^resence  has  blessed  and  sus- 
tained them  in  the  midst  of  perplexities,  doubts, 
fears,  bewilderments,  to  whom  else  can  we  go? 
We  would  rather  run  the  risk  of  being  mistaken 
with  thee  than  right  with  anyone  else.  But 
thou  wilt  guide  us  right,  wilt  teach  us  how  to 
act,  to  think,  to  live,  to  die — to  die  in  hope — and 
wilt  show  us  more  and  more  of  the  glory  and  the 
brieihtness  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  thee. 


THE  LADDER  OF  LIFE. 

And  Jacob  went  out  from  Beer-sheha,  and  went  toward  Ilaran. 
And  he  lighted  upon  a  certain  place,  and  tarried  there  all  night,  be- 
cause  the  sun  was  set  .  .  .  and  he  dreamed. — Genesis  xxviii.  10, 
11,  13. 

Heee  is  a  picture — quite  a  commonplace  one — 
of  a  young  man  starting  out  in  life.  The  scenes 
of  tlie  past  are  closed  ;  the  future  lies  before  him, 
unattempted  and  uncertain,  and  the  only  thing 
that  his  father  can  do  for  him  now  is  to  say  to 
him  as  he  does,  as  every  father  would  say,  at 
such  a  time,  "  God  Almighty  bless  thee,  my  son, 
and  make  thee  good  and  prosperous."  With 
this  Invocation  as  his  only  heritage,  he  enters 
upon  his  career,  and  goes  forth  into  the  world  to 
measure  himself  with,  and  to  find  his  place 
among,  strangers.  This  is  his  situation  when  we 
overtake  him  in  the  text.  He  has  journeyed,  it 
seems,  a  whole  day  from  the  parental  roof,  and 
now  as  the  day  is  closing  and  the  "glimmering 
landscape  fades  upon  the  sight,"  and  the  twi- 
light gathers  and  the  darkness  deepens,  he  lies 
down  to  rest,  this  solitary  traveler  upon  life's 
great  pathway,  with  the  earth  for  a  bed  and  the 

39 


40  THE   LADDER   OF   LIFE. 

stones  for  a  pillow  and  the  skies  above  for  a 
covering. 

And  yet,  rough  and  rugged  as  is  his  couch  that 
night,  his  sleep  is  sweet  and  peaceful ;  and  he 
dreams  of  a  luminous  ladder  stretching  from 
earth  to  heaven,  of  many  angels  of  God  ascend- 
ing and  descending  upon  it,  and  of  a  comfort- 
ing voice  of  God  speaking  to  him  and  saying, 
"  Behold,  I  am  with  thee  and  will  keep  thee  in 
all  places,  whithersoever  thou  goest."  Now,  in 
this  dream  of  Jacob  at  Bethel,  although  the 
place  is  so  remote  and  the  time  so  long  ago,  we 
have,  I  think,  a  picture  of  Christian  life, — indeed 
of  all  true  human  life,  which,  when  true,  is 
Christian, — standing  on  the  earth,  planted  firmly 
there  in  the  midst  of  human  affairs,  duties,  inter- 
ests, pleasures,  yet  receiving  inspiration,  guid- 
ance, comfort,  help  from  a  life  above  the  earth, 
and  resting  like  a  ladder  on  this  world  and  the 
next. 

Let  us  look  at  this  picture  for  a  little  while 
and  see  what  it  has  to  teach  and  suggest.  The 
Christian  life,  like  all  life  in  this  world,  rests  on 
a  physical  basis,  for  human  nature  consists  of 
body  as  well  as  soul,  and  "what  shall  we  eat?"  is 
a  question,  not  of  so  high  an  order,  but  just  as 
urgent  at  times,  as  "  what  shall  we  do  to  be 


THE   LADDER   OF   LIFE.  41 

saved?"  It  is,  therefore,  a  question  which  a 
Christian  man,  like  every  man,  must  ask,  and  like 
every  man  must  somehow  manage  to  answer,  for 
no  matter  how  devout  and  pious  and  spiritually 
minded  and  intellectual  a  person  may  be,  he 
cannot  subsist  on  a  diet  of  pure  thought  and 
emotion.  The  keenest  logic,  the  most  delicate 
sentiment,  the  most  brilliant  reasoning,  wait 
upon  appetite.  The  poet,  the  artist,  the  states- 
man, the  man  of  affairs,  the  philosopher,  the 
philanthropist,  the  reformer,  are  conditioned  in 
their  loftiest  flights  of  imagination,  in  their 
noblest  self-sacrifices  for  a  suffering  humanity, 
by  the  inexorable  mandate  of  a  recurring  physi'cal 
hunger.  Christian  life,  therefore,  must  stand  on 
a  physical  basis,  it  must  rest  on  the  earth. 
Christian  people  must  engage  in  the  great  world 
struggle  for  bread,  for  physical  food  and  sub- 
sistence, participating  in  worldly  affairs,  and 
thus  doing  their  part  to  develop  the  physical 
wealth  of  the  world,  bringing  more  and  more  its 
hidden  treasure  out  and  making  this  world  in  a 
physical  sense  a  more  comfortable  place  to  live 
in. 

There  is,  I  know,  a  danger  to  the  Christian 
life  in  this,  of  which  I  will  presently  speak,  and 
yet,  great  as  the  danger  is  in  living  in  the  world, 


42  THE   LADDER   OF   LIFE. 

there  is  a  greater  danger  in  trying  to  live  outside 
of  it.  It  is  only  by  coming  into  toucli  and  con- 
tact with  the  real,  active,  busy,  manifold  life  of 
the  w^orld  that  the  Christian  life  can  maintain  its 
purity  of  heart.  That  may  seem  like  a  strange 
statement  to  some  of  you  ;  nevertheless  it  is  true, 
and  experience  has  i)roved  it  true.  Christian 
men  and  women  have  at  times  tried  the  experi- 
ment of  living  outside  of  the  world,  but  their  ef- 
forts have  not  been  successful.  They  have  been, 
on  the  contrary,  very  disastrous  and  bad,  and  by 
their  well-intentioned  but  most  unwise  endeavor 
to  climb  up  into  the  heavens  by  a  ladder  which, 
like  Mahomet's  coffin,  was  susp>ended  in  the  air, 
one  end  of  which  did  not  rest  and  stand  upon  the 
ground,  they  have  ultimately  fallen,  ladder  and 
all,  into  the  mud  and  mire  of  the  ditch.  And 
the  scandalous  story  of  the  monastic  orders — 
the  monasteries,  the  convents,  the  abbeys,  and 
the  other  religious  houses  in  England  at  the 
time  of  the  Reformation,  where  the  plainest 
principles  of  purity  and  morality  were  wantonly 
disregarded  and  violated,  and  even  the  common 
decencies  of  conduct  had  ceased  to  be  observed, 
and  which  perhai^s  more  than  anything  else  gave 
rise  to  the  Reformation — should  be  sufficient,  I 
think,  to  teach  this  lesson  to  us.    And  no  matter 


THE   LADDER   OF   LIFE.  43 

liow  great  the  apparent  gain  may  be  or  praise- 
worthy the  motive,  or  good  for  a  time  the  re- 
sult, the  sure  and  final  outcome  of  ignoring  the 
physical  basis  of  the  Christian  life,  the  natural 
human  worldly  basis,  of  trying  to  withdraw  it 
from  its  true  and  proper  environment  in  the  com- 
mon life  of  the  world,  is  not  to  make  it  more 
spiritual,  but  to  make  it  more  corrupt,  not  better 
indeed  than  the  worldly  life,  but  something 
very  much  worse. 

I  remark  again  that  it  is  only  by  coming  into 
touch  and  contact  with  the  great  life  of  the 
world  that  the  Christian  life  can  j^reserve  its 
sanity  ;  not  only  the  excellencies  of  its  moral 
character  and  the  purity  of  its  heart,  but  the  ex- 
cellencies of  its  intellectual  character  and  the 
purity  of  its  head.  And  when  Christian  people 
look  upon  the  Christian  life  as  a  little  j)atli,  not 
leading  into  and  across  the  great  face  of  the 
world,  but  leading  outside  of  and  apart  from  it, 
they  are  apt  to  become  unbalanced  in  judgment, 
wanting  in  common  sense,  in  practical  wisdom 
and  knowledge,  and  in  their  effort  to  save  their 
souls  they  sometimes  lose  their  minds;  or,  if  they 
do  not  lose  them  wholly,  they  lose  them  a  little 
and  in  part.  We  have  seen  it  in  the  past,  we 
see  it  also  to-day  :  men  and  women  whose  Chris- 


44  THE   LADDER   OF  LIFE. 

tian  life,  although  so  earnest,  so  zealous,  so  sin- 
cere, yet  seems  to  be  up  in  the  air,  not  standing 
on  the  ground  nor  resting  on  the  common  mother 
earth,  beautiful  perhaps  as  a  theory,  but  flighty, 
queer,  eccentric,  full  of  extravaganzas  and  senti- 
mentalisms,  and  which  when  brought  down  to 
the  common,  practical,  hard,  every-day  life  of 
the  world  does  not  work. 

This  leads  me  to  say  again  that  it  is  only  by 
coming  into  touch  and  contact  with  the  great 
and  real  and  busy  life  of  the  world  that  the 
Christian  life  can  exert  to  the  utmost  its  in- 
fluence in  the  world.  A  story  is  told,  I  remem- 
ber, of  an  old  philosopher,  that  he  would  become 
at  times  so  absorbed  in  deep  meditations  con- 
cerning the  mysterious  nature  of  God  and  the 
human  soul  that  he  would  stand  almost  motion- 
less for  a  period  of  twelve  hours  or  more  in  the 
hot  and  open  sun,  with  bare,  blistered,  swollen, 
bleeding  feet,  so  full  of  beautiful  thoughts  con- 
cerning immortality  and  the  life  to  come  that  he 
forgot  to  put  his  shoes  on. 

My  friends,  if  this  Christian  life  of  ours  is  to 
be  a  real  i)Ower  and  influence  in  the  world,  if,  as 
Jesus  Christ  meant,  it  is  to  touch  and  shape  and 
control  the  workl,  if  it  is  to  be  something  more 
than  a  beautiful  bit  of  idealism;  then,  instead  of 


THE   LADDER   OF   LIFE.  46 

standing  by  itself  motionless  and  fixed  in  some 
sweet  and  beautiful  place  apart  from  the  world, 
it  must  put  on  its  shoes  and  go  forth  into  the 
world,  must  come  into  contact  with  it,  must 
learn  how  to  move  on  all  the  great  world 
thoroughfares  of  toil  and  traffic  and  pursuit, 
engagement,  amusement,  and  pleasure. 

How  is  the  great  political  life  of  the  world  to 
be  Christianized  and  redeemed  if  Christian  peo- 
ple do  not  take  a  part  in  politics  ?  How  is  the 
municipal  life  of  New  York  City  to  be  brought 
more  fully  under  Christian  influence, — and  I 
presume  it  will  be  admitted  by  all  parties,  by 
persons  of  all  political  complexions,  that  there 
is  room  for  improvement, — if  when  election  day 
comes  so  many  Christian  people,  instead  of  go- 
ing to  the  polls,  run  off  to  Tuxedo  or  some 
other  place  in  the  country  and  go  hunting  and 
fishing  ? 

How  is  the  great  amusement  life  of  the  world 
to  be  purified  and  redeemed  from  its  debasing 
and  corrupting  tendencies  if  Christian  people, 
the  best  of  them,  do  not  participate  with  discrim- 
inating engagement  in  it?  How  is  the  great 
business  life  of  the  world  to  be  redeemed  from  its 
hard  avarice,  from  its  selfish  greed,  unless  there 
are  many  Christian  people  there  who  show  by 


46  THE   LADDER   OF   LIFE. 

conduct  and  example  that  while  they  too  love 
gold  they  love  God  more  than  gold  ? 

How  is  any  great  dej)artnient  of  the  world's 
great  life  to  be  Christianized  and  redeemed  except 
as  we  understand  it  and  know  it  and  come  into 
contact  with  it,  and  in  that  way  try  to  help  it  ? 

Yes,  for  the  maintenance  of  its  purity,  for  the 
preservation  of  its  sanity,  for  the  exertion  of  its 
best  and  most  effective  influences,  the  Christian 
life  must  stand  on  a  physical  basis,  must  rest  on 
the  earth,  on  all  the  earth  ;  must  come  into  rela- 
tion, must  keep  itself  in  touch  with  this  real, 
great,  busy  life  of  the  world. 

Bat  now,  without  elaborating  this  any  more, 
let  me  go  on  to  speak  of  the  other  side  of  the 
subject.  I  have  said  that  there  is  a  danger  to 
the  Christian  in  trying  to  separate  himself  from 
the  world.  There  is  also  a  danger  in  living  in 
the  world.  Jesus  Christ  in  clear  and  vigorous 
language  has  j)ointed  out  that  danger.  "How 
hard  it  is,"  he  says,  "for  one  who  trusts  in 
riches  to  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  It  is 
easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  a  needle's  eye 
than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  Strong  language,  strong  language  ;  let 
us  not  skip  it  when  we  read  the  gospel  story. 
Let  us  try  to  find  out  what  it  means,  for  of  this 


THE  LADDER   OF   LIFE.  47 

We  may  be  sure,  that  the  sayings  of  Christ  are 
true;  not  true  because  he  says  them,  but  that  he 
says  them  because  they  are  true. 

What  then  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  which 
he  here  refers  ?  Not,  as  I  understand  it,  a  king- 
dom of  heaven  beyond  the  grave  and  in  some 
other  world,  but  a  kingdom  of  heaven  here,  on 
the  earth,  which  those  who  trust  in  riches  are 
liable  to  miss  and  not  enter.  And  why?  Be- 
cause they  are  apt  to  trust  too  much  in  riches,  to 
make  them  their  heaven,  their  only  heaven ;  and 
to  want  no  other  heaven  and  by  and  by  to  think 
there  is  no  other.  In  trying  hard  to  minister  to 
their  i)hysical  needs,  their  physical  wants  and 
requirements,  duties,  pleasures,  interests,  and 
gratifications  of  appetite,  they  are  apt  to  over- 
look and  ignore  their  higher  ends  and  greater,  to 
forget  indeed  that  they  have  any  higher  ends, 
and  after  a  while  to  cease  altogether — the  soul 
lost,  dead — to  cease  altogether  to  feel  them. 
They  look  out  on  life,  and  all  they  see  or  care 
to  see  or  try  to  see  is  money ;  and  the  stars  in 
the  firmament  over  their  heads  are  simply  stars 
of  gold.  "Oh,  come  and  shine  upon  us,"  they 
say,— the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich,  for  the  man 
who  is  trying  hard  to  be  rich  is  virtually  in  the 
same  case  with  the  man  who  is  rich, — "ye  stars 


48  THE   LADDER   OF   LIFE. 

of  golden  light;  come  slied  your  beams  npoii  our 
hearts,  come  make  us  hapjDy  and  glad,  come 
more  and  more,  ye  golden  stars,  be  our  God, 
our  religion,  our  heaven  on  earth."  Now,  when 
that  is  the  heaven  which  men  so  engrossingly  look 
for,  they  find  it  hard  to  see  and  enter  an}^  other. 

And  yet,  says  Jesus  Christ,  there  is  another 
and  a  better  heaven  on  earth.  Ah,  my  friends, 
are  we  not  beginning  to-day  to  find  it  out  a  little, 
that  this  materialistic  life,  however  comely  and 
fair,  which  moves  and  finds  its  being  and  its 
gratifications  in  the  physical  senses,  is  breaking 
down  under  its  own  weight  and  is  not  giving 
to  men  the  happiness  that  they  had  expected 
from  it  ?  Are  we  not  beginning  to  find,  I  mean 
the  people  at  large,  that  the  physical  treasures 
of  life  are  not  the  only  treasures  nor  the  great- 
est ;  that  there  are  treasures  in  the  mind,  treas- 
ures in  the  heart,  treasures  in  the  soul,  which  if 
diligently  sought  may  be  abundantly  had,  and 
which  if  missed,  leave  us  poor  indeed  ? 

There  is  a  kingdom  of  mind  culture.  Long- 
ago  it  was  said  by  a  wise  man  that  a  Tamer- 
lane standing  at  the  gate  of  Damascus,  pano- 
plied in  armor  and  with  glittering  battle-ax 
upon  his  shoulder,  is  a  less  important  factor  in 
the  history  of  the  world  than  the  little  boy  play- 


THE   LADDER   OF   LIFE.  49 

ing  at  nine-pins  in  tlie  streets  of  Metz,  whose 
movable  types  were  destined  to  move  the  world. 
Yes,  and  they  have  moved  it  and  illuminated 
and  glorified  it.  They  have  given  new  treasures 
to  it,  liberated  new  forces  in  it,  and  spread  a  new 
heaven  of  letters  and  learning  over  it.  The 
kingdom  of  intellectual  culture — how  hard  it  is 
for  a  man  whose  thoughts  are  engrossingly  fixed 
upon  mere  material  treasures  to  enter  that  king- 
dom of  heaven  !  how  much  he  will  lack  if  he  does 
not !   And  he  is  beginning  to-day  to  feel  the  lack. 

There  is  a  kingdom  of  heart  culture,  pure, 
sweet,  of  great  reward,  to  be  found  more  partic- 
ularly in  the  sheltered  and  secluded  life  of 
the  home.  How  hard  it  is  for  a  busy  man  of 
affairs  to-day  to  enter  that  kingdom  !  how  much 
he  will  lack  if  he  does  not !  And  he  is  beginning 
to-day  to  feel  that  lack,  and  to  say  to  himself  as 
he  sees  how  this  mad  and  maddening  search  of 
the  modern  world  for  gold,  this  fierce  and 
feverish  rush,  is  making  the  sweet,  quiet,  old- 
fashioned  home-life  impossible  any  more,  is  break- 
ing it  up,  and  turning  it  out-of-doors  into  the 
street,   "  I  wonder  after  all  if  it  pays." 

There  is  a  heaven  of  soul  culture,  of  spiritual 
grace  and  beauty,  of  spiritual  strength  and 
refinement  and  delicacy  of  spiritual  perception, 


50  THE   LADDER   OF   LIFE. 

to  which  new  vistas  open,  new  hopes  arise,  new 
faiths  appear,  new  glories  are  made  to  shine, 
brighter  than  the  pride  of  life,  sweeter  than  the 
lust  of  the  flesh,  and  of  a  more  enduring  bril- 
liancy than  all  the  material  splendors  revealed 
to  the  natural  eye.  There  is  a  heaven  in  the  soul 
here,  the  assurance  of  a  heaven  for  the  soul  here- 
after; a  heaven  of  trust  and  confidence  in,  and 
a  heaven  of  peace  with,  God  ;  how  hard  it  is  for 
the  man  engrossed  in  material  pursuits  to  enter 
that  kingdom  of  heaven  !  How  much  he  will 
lack  if  he  does  not  enter  it !  And  he  is  beginning 
to-day,  it  seems  to  me,  to  feel  that  lack  a  little, 
beginning  to  say  to  himself,  "  Whatever  may  be 
said  against  particular  doctrines  or  theories  or  the 
utterances  of  the  churches,  they  do  stand  for  and 
point  to  something  good  and  true,"  without  which, 
despite  everything  else  he  has  done,  or  acquired 
or  may  acquire,  he  will  miss  the  thing  he  so  much 
wants  and  has  been  trying  so  hard  to  find. 

Now  let  me  sum  what  has  been  said.  The  true 
and  proper  attitude  of  Christian  life,  of  all  life, 
all  human  life,  what  is  it  ?  Standing  on  the 
earth,  dwelling  on  the  earth,  taking  part  in, 
moving  about  here  and  there  in  the  great  world- 
struggle  for  treasures,  for  pleasures  ?  Yes,  it  is 
that,  and  for  the  sake  of  ourselves,  as  well  as  for 


THE   LADDER   OF   LIFE.  61 

the  sake  of  the  world,  let  us  not  try  to  get  out  of 
it,  nor  make  the  great  mistake  and  repeat  the 
historic  blunder  of  supposing  that,  in  order  to  be 
good  Christians  and  to  grow  in  the  Christian  life, 
we  must  somehow  manage  to  extricate  and  with- 
draw ourselves  from  this  common  secular  life. 
No  ;  it  is  in  the  midst  of  this  common  life  of  the 
world  that  the  Christian  life  is  to  grow,  the 
Christian  character  to  flourish,  and  the  Christian 
influences  to  be  exerted.  The  ladder  must  rest 
on  the  earth. 

And  yet  there  are  many  and  great  temptations 
and  snares  and  dangers  in  this  worldly  life,  nor 
can  it  give  the  thing  we  need  to  make  ourselves 
complete.  Treasures  there  are,  and  j)leasures 
and  hopes  and  inspirations  and  high  transfig- 
uring faiths,  not  born  of  man,  but  of  God ;  a 
heaven  of  joy  and  peace  which,  in  the  race  for 
riches,  no  matter  how  fast  or  successfully  we 
run,  we  are  not  able  to  reach.  The  Christian 
life  must  stand  upon  the  earth,  in  the  midst  of 
earthly  affairs,  interests,  duties,  ambitions,  pleas- 
ures, and  yet  must  somehow  find  a  pathway  clear 
and  open  to  things  above  the  earth,  to  joys  that  do 
not  perish,  to  hopes  that  do  not  die,  to  faiths  that 
do  not  fail,  to  riches  that  do  not  rust,  to  great 
and  eternal  realities  lying  beyond  the  world. 


52  THE  LADDER   OF   LIFE. 

It  is  difficult,  I  know,  to  live  in  this  way  without 
serving  God  and  Mammon  both,  which  Christ 
says  we  cannot  do ;  it  is  difficult  to  live  in  this 
world  and  yet  at  the  same  time  to  enter  and  live 
in  some  other  world.  To  escape  the  difficulty 
some  have  become  "gainless  lovers  of  God," 
others  have  become  "godless  lovers  of  gain." 
Neither  course  is  right.  We  must  stand  on  the 
earth,  and  yet  must  touch  and  enter  a  heaven 
above  the  eartli.  And  to  be  enabled  to  do  it  suc- 
cessfully we  must  follow  closely  the  guidance  of 
One  who  has  said  of  himself,  "No  man  cometh 
down  from  heaven  but  the  Son  of  Man  which  is 
in  heaven,"  whose  life  did  rest  like  a  ladder  on 
this  world  and  the  next,  and  along  which  the 
angels  are  seen  ascending  and  descending  as 
upon  the  Son  of  Man. 

That  is  the  Christian  life,  standing  on  the 
earth,  going  here  and  there,  from  business  to 
society,  from  the  club  room  to  the  counting 
room  and  the  drawing  room,  moving  across  the 
earth,  sailing  across  the  waters,  going  here 
and  there,  engaging  in  this  and  that,  and  yet 
ever  hearing  the  comforting,  guiding,  inspiring 
voice  of  the  great  All-Father  God,  "I  am  with 
thee,  and  will  keep  thee  in  all  places  whitherso- 
ever thou  goest." 


FAITH  AND  MACHINERY. 

And  the  Lord  said  mito  Mm,  What  is  that  in  thine  hand?  And 
he  said,  A  rod. — Exodus  iv.  2. 

These  words  are  associated  with  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  and  noteworthy  events  in  the 
history  of  mankind,  namely,  the  deliverance  of 
the  children  of  Israel  from  their  house  of  bond- 
age in  Egypt.  The  Lord  appeared  unto  Moses 
as  he  kept  the  flock  of  Jethro,  his  father-in-law, 
in  the  mountain  of  Horeb,  and  said,  "  Come 
now,  therefore,  and  I  will  send  thee  unto 
Pharaoh  that  thou  mayest  bring  the  children  of 
Israel  forth";  and  Moses  said  unto  God,  "Who 
am  I  that  I  should  go  unto  Pharaoh,  or  that  I 
should  bring  the  children  of  Israel  forth?" 
"How  shall  I  do  it?"  he  seems  to  ask,  "and 
what  shall  I  do  it  with  ?  What  weapons  shall  I 
employ  ?  where  shall  I  find  the  equipment  suffi- 
cient for  such  an  arduous  task  ?  I  have  no 
sword ;  no  army.  I  am  not  a  soldier ;  I  am 
only  a  shepherd,  and  when  I  go  and  tell  them 
that  thou  hast  sent  me,  they  will  not  believe  me 
or  hearken  unto  my  voice."     And  the  Lord  said 

53 


54  FAITH   AND   MACHHSTERY. 

unto  Moses,  "What  is  that  in  thine  hand?" 
and  Moses  said,  "A  rod."  That  was  enough — 
the  only  weapon  required,  the  staff  with  which 
he  kept  the  sheep  in  the  wilderness,  the  thing 
he  had  already  in  his  possession,  and  all  that 
was  needed  was  to  use  it  with  faith  in  God. 

I  have  selected  this  incident  as  my  text  this 
morning  for  the  purpose  of  trying  to  show  you 
what  kind  of  equipment  God  requires  for  doing 
his  work  in  the  world  ;  my  subject  is,  "  Faith  in 
God  in  its  relation  to  faith  in  machinery,"  using 
the  word  "machinery,"  as  denoting  all  kinds 
of  tools,  mental,  moral,  and  social,  as  well  as 
mechanical. 

It  is  not  uncommon  to  hear  people  say  what 
good  things  they  would  like  to  do  and  indeed 
would  do  if  only  they  had  the  means  to  do  them 
with ;  if,  for  instance,  they  were  rich,  or  richer, 
had  more  social  influence,  occupied  more  promi- 
nent places  among  their  fellow-men,  or  were  in 
some  way  differently  circumstanced  and  situated 
from  what  they  actually  are.  This  or  that  is 
good,  they  admit,  is  very  good  and  important, 
a  thing  that  ought  to  be  done,  a  change  that 
ought  to  made,  a  great  deliverance  that  ought 
to  be  wrought,  or  a  great  reformation  that 
ought  to  be  effected;  but  they  themselves,  they 


FAITH   AND   MACHINERY.  56 

say,  are  not  fitted  for  it;  they  have  not  the 
means,  the  weapons,  the  tools,  to  work  with,  the 
wisdom,  the  learning,  the  strength — are  not  the 
persons  to  do  it. 

Well,  that  may  be  true.  Diiierent  persons 
have,  of  course,  different  qualifications,  different 
opportunities,  and  different  talents,  and  some 
persons  can  work  at  a  given  task  much  more 
effectively  than  others.  And  yet,  while  that  is 
true,  is  it  not  also  true — a  truth  which  in  the 
Bible  is  especially  taught — that  what  men  have 
or  are,  no  matter  how  poor  and  weak  and  inade- 
quate it  seems  to  be,  can,  when  used  with  faith 
in  God,  accomplish  more  than  they  think  ?  Is 
not  that  the  very  thing,  the  principle,  which  the 
Bible  is  meant  to  illustrate  ?  which  makes  the 
Bible  so  different — or  one  of  the  things  which 
make  the  Bible  so  different  from  all  other 
books;  which  has  made  the  religion  of  the  Bible 
such  a  unique  phenomenon  in  the  history  of 
mankind  ?  What  you  need,  it  has  said  to  men, 
with  a  voice  different  from  all  other  voices,  to  do 
great  work  for  God  in  the  world, — and  this 
makes  it  a  voice  for  all  people, — is  not  some 
greater  instrument  than  what  you  have  already, 
some  greater  gift  of  genius,  some  greater  natural 
endowment    or    circumstantial    equipment, — do 


56  FAITH   AND   MACHINERY. 

not  wait  for  that.  What  you  have  is  enough, — the 
shepherd  rod  of  a  Moses,  the  trumpet  horn  of  a 
Joshua,  the  scarlet  thread  of  a  Rahab,  the  ham- 
mer and  nail  of  a  Jael,  the  sling  and  stone  of  a 
David,  the  barley  loaves  and  fishes  of  the  lad  in 
the  gospel  story,  the  one  little  talent  which  you 
possess  of  wisdom,  skill,  experience,  sympathy, 
beauty,  power.  Do  not  despise  and  neglect  it 
because  it  is  poor  and  weak,  or  wrap  it  up  and 
bury  it  and  be  afraid  to  exert  it,  but  with  faith 
in  God,  go  use  it,  looking  to  and  trusting  in  God 
to  multiply  and  bless  it.  You  cannot  tell 
beforehand  what  he  may  do  with  it,  what  great 
results  he  can  accomplish  by  it ;  therefore  take 
it  and  go;  that  shepherd's  rod,  that  sling  and 
stone,  the  one  little  talent  which  you  possess, 
the  thing  you  have  in  hand,  with  faith  in  God, 
go  use  it. 

This,  I  say,  is  the  lesson  which  the  Bible 
especially  teaches,  the  principle  which  it  illus- 
trates, the  great  truth  for  which  the  Bible 
especially  stands,  that  what  men  need  to  do 
great  work  for  God  is  not  great  machinery,  is 
not  great  tools  and  instruments,  is  not  great 
natural  power,  or  circumstantial  equipment — or 
not  primarily  that,  but  first  of  all  and  most  of  all 
faith  in  God;  faith  in  what  he  has  given,  which 


FAITH   AND   MACHINERY.  57 

means  faith  in  liim  who  gave  it.  If  it  be  great, 
so  much  the  better,  of  course ;  but  if  little,  the 
rod  and  staff,  the  sling  and  stone — go  use  it,  and 
God  will  make  it  effective  and  strong.  See  how 
it  was  in  the  days  of  the  early  Church.  What 
was  it  tliat  made  it  so  powerful  ?  What  was  the 
equipment  of  the  men  who  were  so  active  in  it, 
and  whose  activity  planted  it,  even  before  that 
age,  that  generation,  had  passed,  all  over  the 
face  of  the  civilized  earth.  They  did  not  have 
much  learning,  as  we  count  learning  in  our  time, 
and  certainly  not  much  money,  no  great  facili- 
ties for  getting  about,  no  printed  books  nor 
Bibles, — not  as  we  have  them  now, — and  no 
Bible  Societies,  no  Missionary  Boards  and 
Women's  Auxiliaries  and  charitable  organiza- 
tions and  Christian  schools  and  colleges,  no 
churches,  no  cathedrals,  nothing  much — but 
faith  in  God.  The  power  to  work  miracles  ?  Yes, 
so  it  seems,  to  a  very  limited  extent,  and  for  a 
very  limited  time,  and  with  a  very  limited  result 
accomplished  by  it.  But  read  the  story  as  you 
find  it  in  the  New  Testament  books  and  the 
other  literature  of  the  time,  and  see  if  it  be  not 
true  that  the  power  which  they  exerted  was,  not 
chiefly  the  power  of  miracles,  or  the  power  of 
great  machinery,    weapons,  tools,   instruments. 


58  FAITH   AND   MACHINERY. 

but  the  power  of  a  faith  in  God  that  vitalized 
the  talent,  equipment,  which  they  had.  And 
yet  what  a  mighty  work  they  wrought,  what 
a  great  deliverance  they  effected ;  how  they 
changed  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  turned  it  up- 
side down! 

Then  look  at  the  Church  at  the  present  time. 
With  a  scholarship  never  so  ripe,  with  a  mem- 
bership never  so  numerous,  with  a  treasury 
never  so  full,  with  a  social  organization  never 
so  widely  ramified,  with  a  machinery  never 
so  ample,  with  ways  and  means  and  tools  and 
instruments  never  so  great  and  many;  and  yet, 
despite  all  these  excellent  tools  and  this  great 
machinery,  what  little  progress  is  made  to-day 
by  the  Church  in  delivering  the  children  of  God 
from  their  houses  of  bondage  all  over  the  face  of 
the  earth !  Why  ?  Because,  it  seems  to  me,  that 
we  to-day  have  too  much  faith  in  machinery. 
We  are  making  an  idol  of  it,  and  putting  our 
trust  in  it  instead  of  God.  Is  there  some  great 
work  to  be  done,  or  it  may  be  some  little  work  ? 
Some  social  need  to  be  supplied  or  some  dis- 
tress relieved  ?  Instead  of  casting  ourselves  on 
God  and  strengthening  ourselves  in  him,  or 
trying  to  find  some  man  of  God  to  do  it,  with 
that  personal  courage,  force,  daring,  which  faith 


FAITH   AND   MACHINERY.  59 

in  God  gives — Go  to,  we  say ;  let  us  get  to- 
getlier  and  form  a  new  society,  with  constitution 
and  by-laws  and  officers,  and  let  us  appoint 
committees  and  subcommittees ;  let  us  make 
some  new  machinery  with  ropes  and  pulleys, 
and  wheels  within  wheels,  so  admirably  adjusted 
and  fitted  to  one  another  that  they  will  almost 
go  automatically.  And  so  we  have  more  social 
mechanism,  more  social  apparatus,  and  another 
society  is  added  to  the  hundred  thousand 
societies  already  in  existence  in  Christendom, 
and  we  stand  off  and  point  with  satisfaction  to 
them,  or  rather  we  are  buried  beneath  them, 
with  personal  life,  liberty,  force,  almost  crushed 
and  broken,  and  we  have  just  enough  strength 
left  to  look  up  and  say,  "These  be  thy  gods, 
O  Israel." 

Well,  of  course  we  must  have  our  social 
machinery;  we  must  have  our  benevolent  and  re- 
ligious societies  and  organizations,  though  some 
of  them,  I  think,  might  well  be  spared  and  dis- 
pensed with ;  and  yet,  however  important  and 
necessary  they  may  be  in  doing  the  work  of 
God,  there  is  one  thing  more  important,  and 
that  is  a  living  faith  in  God.  That  is  the  equip- 
ment which  first  of  all  he  requires,  and  which, 
when  we  have  it,  will  make  our  present  resources. 


60  FAITH   AND   MACIIHSrEIlT. 

ways  and  means  and  instruments,  sufficient  for 
and  equal  to  the  performance  of  our  tasks. 
And  this,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  message  of  God 
to  his  people  here  and  now,  as  to  that  man  in 
Horeb  who  was  to  be  the  leader  of  his  people 
then:  "Go  bring  my  children  forth,"  all  over 
the  face  of  the  earth  ;  wherever  you  hear  their 
cry  of  distress  and  see  their  need  for  help,  go 
bring  my  children  forth  from  their  houses  of 
bondage  to-day,  lift  them  up  to  manhood,  make 
them  free,  give  them  hope  and  liberty  in  Jesus 
Christ.  You  need  no  new  machinery,  no  other 
than  what  you  have.  The  tools,  the  instru- 
ments, the  weapons,  which  you  already  possess 
—  "What  is  that  in  thine  hand?"  go,  take  it, 
use  it,  and  bring  my  children  forth  from  their 
houses   of  bondage. 

'Now,  having  treated  the  subject  in  this  general 
way,  let  me  make  for  a  few  moments  a  special 
application  of  it,  and  speak  of  one  house  of 
bondage  in  particular  here  in  New  York  City,  to 
which  I  referred  last  Sunday,  namely,  the  tene- 
ment house.  That  it  is  a  house  of  bondage, 
moral  and  si)iritual,  I  tried  then  to  show  you ; 
and  what  a  large  space  it  occupies  in  our  popu- 
lation and  how  many  people  are  in  it !  Down 
in  Crosby  Street,   for  instance,  there  is  a  tene- 


FAITH   AND   MACHINERY,  61 

ment  house  which  has  191  adults  and  91  chil- 
dren living  in  it,  and  in  the  house  immediately- 
adjoining  there  were  found  by  actual  count  89 
children,  making  a  total  of  180  children  in  two 
contiguous  houses.  Now,  how  is  it  possible  in 
the  midst  of  such  an  environment — but  I  cannot 
go  into  that  matter  again,  I  tried  to  cover  the 
ground  last  Sunday.  I  stated  the  problem  a 
week  ago,  but  did  not  try  to  solve  it,  nor  am  I 
going  to  attempt  anything  so  ambitious  now. 
The  point  I  wish  to  make  is  simply  this,  that 
while  the  tenement  house  is  here  in  our  midst, 
and  here  to  stay,  I  think,  though  not,  I  hope,  to 
stay  precisely  as  it  is,  the  Christian  peojDle  of 
New  York  can,  with  the  resources  which  they 
already  possess,  if  only  they  have  enough  faith 
in  God  to  use  them,  do  much  to  redeem  the 
life  in  that  house  of  bondage.  How  ?  The 
lack  of  a  practical  helpfulness  proceeds  often- 
times, not  from  the  lack  of  benevolence  but 
from  the  lack  of  information,  and  there  is 
many  a  man  in  New  York  City  at  present  who 
goes  on  his  way  week  after  week,  upon  his 
beaten  path,  his  business  course,  his  round  of 
social,  professional  duties  and  engagements, 
largely  indifferent  to  the  poor  and  doing  but 
little  to  help  them,  not  because  his  heart  is  hard 


62  FAITH   AND   MACHINERY. 

and  lie  cannot  feel  for  the  poor  and  would  not 
be  willing  to  help  them,  but  simply  because  he 
does  not  see  and  know  them,  where  and  what 
they  are,  or  how  they  live  and  exist. 

A  few  years  since  a  little  pamphlet,  called 
"The  Bitter  Cry  of  Outcast  London,"  was  pub- 
lished, of  which  you  have  all  heard  and  which 
some  of  you  doubtless  have  read,  in  which  the 
author  portrayed  from  personal  observation  the 
sad  conditions  of  life  in  a  London  tenement 
house.  This,  I  remember,  is  one  illustration 
he  gives  : 

Down  in  the  cellar  two  families  live.  In  a  lit- 
tle room,  near  by,  are  a  father  and  mother  and 
six  children,  two  of  whom  are  ill  with  scarlet 
fever.  In  still  another  room  is  a  woman  in  an 
advanced  stage  of  consumjDtion,  with  a  drunken 
husband  and  five  children,  one  of  whom  has  just 
gone  out  to  gather  some  sticks  to  boil  five  pota- 
toes that  will  constitute  the  family  meal  for  the 
day.  In  still  another  room  is  a  poor  woman 
dying  with  the  dropsy,  scarcely  able  to  breathe, 
yet  sitting  behind  a  washtub  upon  a  broken 
chair,  trying  as  best  she  can  to  keep  things  clean 
and  tidy.  And  so,  throughout  the  house  from 
cellar  to  garret,  are  men,  women,  and  children, 
huddled  and  crowded  together,  enduring  the  cold. 


FAITH   AND   MACHINEEY.  G3 

or  the  hunger,  or  the  excessive  heat,  sharing  tlu' 
same  burdens  and  sorrows,  without  hope  (lor 
there  is  no  hope  among  such  people),  and 
waiting,  without  a  single  ray  of  comfort  till 
God  should  close  their  staring  eyes  with  the 
merciful  film  of  death.  It  was  not  a  romance  or 
a  novel ;  it  was  a  picture  from  real  life,  and  there 
were  other  pictures  like  it.  And  the  result  of  it 
Avas  that  Christian  men  and  women  in  London, 
who  had  not  known  or  realized  the  misery  which 
existed  at  their  very  doors,  were  moved  to  go 
and  visit  the  poor  and  see  and  learn  about  them 
for  themselves.  And  as  a  result  of  that  personal 
knowledge  again,  more  has  been  done  since,  in 
the  last  few  years,  to  mitigate  the  hard  con- 
ditions of  the  outcast  poor  in  London  than  all 
that  had  been  done  during  many  years  before. 
They  saw  it,  they  knew  it,  and  then  they 
helped  it. 

Well,  there  are  places  in  New  York  City, 
Christian  friends,  almost,  if  not  altogether,  as 
sad  and  dreary  as  that.  Would  you  be  of  ser- 
vice to  the  people  living  in  them  ?  "  What  is 
that  in  thine  hand?"  The  power  to  go  and 
see  them.  It  is  not  far,  thirty  minutes  will 
take  you  there,  to  look  upon  them  with  your 
own  eyes — not  somebody's  else  ;    to  come  into 


64  FAITH   AND   MACHINEEY. 

contact  and  touch  with  them,  and  if  you  do  you 
will  have  no  rest  and  peace  ;  you  will  lie  awake 
at  nights,  until  you  find  some  Avay  to  serve  and 
help  them. 

Bat  perhaps  you  will  not  go.  That  is  another 
matter,  I  am  only  saying  what  you  can  do  if 
you  will.  "What  is  that  in  thine  hand?" 
Take  it  and  use  it  with  faith  in  God,  with  the 
courage  that  faith  in  God  gives ;  with  faith  in 
God,  go  use  it,  and  some  good  result  will  follow. 

But  then  you  may  say.  Is  not  that  after  all 
impracticable  ?  Circumstanced  and  situated  as 
we  are  we  cannot  go  among  the  poor,  the  very 
worst  and  lowest  poor,  and  if  we  did  we  would 
not  know  what  to  do  or  say  to  them.  Possibly 
so.  Yery  likely.  The  pastor  of  an  English 
parish,  who  employed  a  number  of  theological 
students  to  visit  among  the  poor,  was  asked  upon 
one  occasion  what  was  the  result  of  the  experi- 
ment, and  how  it  worked  ?  "  Well,"  he  replied 
with  some  hesitation,  "it  was  good  for  the  stu- 
dents." Certainly  it  is  not  every  person  who 
has  the  talent,  shall  I  call  it  ?  the  gift,  the  tact, 
to  work  among  the  poor,  even  if  he  had  the  time, 
and  his  circumstances  permitted.  But  it  is  not 
of  personal  work  among  them  that  I  am  speak- 
ing now,  but  personal  knowledge  of  them,  and 


FAITH   AND   MACHINERY.  66 

that  I  am  sure  the  Christian  Church  must  have  or 
all  its  machinery  will  amount  to  nothing.  All 
it  does  without  that  knowledge  will  be  a  waste, 
a  reckless  waste,  of  time  and  money.  That  per- 
sonal knowledge  the  Christian  Church  must 
somehow  acquire  in  order  to  accomplish  much 
or  do  much  practical  good  among  them.  That 
personal  knowledge — why,  you  know  how  it  is, 
business  men — that  personal  knowledge  like 
nothing  else  will  show  what  ought  to  be  done ; 
will  awaken  interest,  will  excite  sympathy,  will 
create  a  large  generosity,  will  touch  the  heart, 
will  enlighten  the  mind,  inform  the  intelligence, 
strengthen  the  will,  and  find  at  last  way  or  ways 
to  do  some  wise  and  practical  work. 

When  some  case  of  appealing  distress  is 
brought  to  your  personal  notice  and  you  look 
upon  it  with  your  own  eyes,  and  see  its  pain  and 
anguish,  and  hear  its  cry  for  help,  and  feel  it  in 
your  heart ;  is  there  a  man,  a  Christian  man  or 
woman  anywhere,  who  would  not  do  what  he 
could  to  help  and  assist  it?  That  cry  comes 
up  from  children  of  God,  children  of  God,  made 
in  his  image,  from  the  houses  of  bondage  in  New 
York  City  to-day.  O  God,  let  us  not  be  so 
wrapped  up  in  our  affluence  and  prosperity  thnt 
we  fail  to  hear  it.     Make  us  hear  that  cry,  that 


66  FAITH  AND   MACHINERY. 

pleading,  bitter  cry ;  it  has  reason  to  be  bitter  at 
times,  for  it  seems  as  though  it  were  forsaken  by 
heaven  and  earth  and  no  man  pitied  or  cared — 
make  us  hear  that  cry,  and  then  we  will  try  to 
help  it  and  will  know  what  ought  to  be  done. 

Yes,  my  friends,  when  the  two  halves  of  New 
York  City,  each  of  which  is  now  living  in  igno- 
rance, or  comparative  ignorance,  of  the  other,  are 
somehow  brought  more  closely  together,  then 
neither  half  will  continue  to  live  precisely  as  it 
is  living. 

We  want  to  solve  this  problem,  we  want  to  help 
the  degraded  poor,  but  we  know  not  what  to  do, 
we  say.  "  What  is  that  in  thine  hand?"  The 
power  to  obtain  a  personal  knowledge  of  the  situ- 
ation. Let  us  go  and  use  it  with  faith  in  God  and 
much  good  will  follow.  We  will  re-enforce  with 
a  large  and  glad  and  willing  generosity  the  ef- 
forts of  those  who  are  working  among  the  poor, 
or  who  by  personal  residence  among  them,  like 
the  settlement  of  young  college  women  down- 
town, are  trying  by  their  culture  and  their  refine- 
ment to  create  (which  is  one  of  the  great  difficul- 
ties) a  better  aspiration  in  the  poor  themselves. 
We  will  try  to  provide  public  parks  r.nd  play- 
grounds for  the  children.  We  will  do  what  we 
can  to  prevent  fifty  little  children  from  being 


FAITH   AND   MACHINERY.  67 

OTOwded  into  one  room  in  a  public  sclioolliouse 
which  was  intended  only  for  twenty  or  at  most 
twenty-five.  We  will  be  willing  that  the  poor 
should  have  such  refining  influences  as  come 
from  museums  and  art  galleries,  such  wholesome 
recreation  as  is  to  be  obtained  from  cheap  public 
amusements,  or  such  healthful  benefit  as  is  to 
be  had  from  summer  excursions  and  outings. 
We  will  see  to  it  that  the  downtown  churches, 
working  in  the  thick  of  the  battle,  shall  not  be 
deserted  without  first  providing  endowment  for 
them  and  seeing  that  they  have  equipment  suf- 
ficient for  their  task.  We  will  know  just  what 
part  of  the  social  machinery  is  cumbersome  and 
vain  and  wasteful  and  ought  not  to  be  helped, 
and  what  part  is  doing  practical  service  and 
ought  to  be  assisted. 

Yes,  after  all,  there  is  much  that  can  be  done, 
even  with  such  resources  as  we  already  possess. 
Let  us  not  say.  Oh,  this  great  problem  !  it  is  so 
hard  to  solve.  Let  us  not  say  there  is  nothing 
we  can  do,  until  we  do  what  we  can.  There  is 
enough  power  in  this  one  congregation  to  redeem 
the  whole  tenement  house  life  of  'New  York  City, 
and  to  us,  as  to  Moses  long  ago,  the  word  of  God 
comes,  "Go  bring  my  children  forth,"  from 
their  houses  of  bondage  to-day. 


68  FAITH  AND  MACHINERY. 

It  is  a  vast  undertaking,  you  say.  How  shall 
we  do  it,  or  who  are  we,  O  God,  to  bring  thy 
children  forth?  And  again  he  says,  "What 
is  that  in  thine  hand  ? "  Go  take  it  and  use 
it ;  with  faith  in  God,  go  use  it. 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done,  on  earth  as  in  heaven. 

In  commenting  recently  npon  that  wonderful 
prayer  which  Jesus  taught  his  disciples  and 
which  they  have  taught  us,  I  called  your  atten- 
tion to  the  truth  contained  in  the  two  opening 
sentences  ;  namely,  the  hiding  of  the  Christian's 
power,  our  Father  in  the  heavens,  and  the  mani- 
festation of  that  power,  in  Christian  worship  on 
earth. 

Worship,  however,  is  not  its  only  manifesta- 
tion. There  is  an  impulse  in  it  toward  work, 
and  I  desire  to  speak  to  you  this  morning  about 
that  additional  impulse  created  by  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  all-embracing  Fatherhood,  and  which 
is  so  succinctly  expressed  in  the  language  of  the 
text.  Or,  putting  it  in  topical  form,  I  will  ask 
you  to  consider  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of 
God. 

The  kingdom  of  God — what  is  it  ?  The  phrase 
was  not  original  with  Jesus.  He  found  it,  when 
he  came,  current  among  the  people,  upon  their 
lips,  their  byword,  the  thing  they  everywhere 


70   THE  COMING  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

talked  about,  as  people  to-day  talk  about  money 
and  business  and  trade  and  the  fashions.  It  col- 
ored their  thought  and  pervaded  their  speech  ; 
it  was  their  life,  their  religion  ;  and  a  prayer 
that  did  not  include  a  petition  for  the  coming  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  was  not,  we  are  told,  re- 
garded as  a  X3rayer  at  all.  While,  however,  the 
phrase  was  not  original  with  Jesus,  he  put  a  new 
meaning  into  it,  and  made  it  something  quite 
different  from  what  it  had  been  before.  To  the 
Jew  the  kingdom  of  God  was  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  the  kingdom  of  the  Jew,  whose  coming 
would  be  for  him,  would  minister  to  his  national 
pride,  would  establish  him  upon  the  earth — his 
thoughts,  his  opinions,  his  supremacy  as  a  Jew. 
Now,  Jesus  meant  by  the  j)hrase  something  very 
much  more.  To  him  the  kingdom  of  God  was, 
as  its  name  implies,  not  the  kingdom  of  man  at 
all,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  but  the  kingdom  of 
God. 

And  here,  let  me  observe  before  proceeding 
further  with  the  exx^lanation  of  the  phrase,  is  a 
wholesome  caution  for  us.  Like  the  Jew  in  the 
time  of  Christ,  we  also  profess  to  be  interested, 
and  1  presume  are,  to  some  extent  at  least,  in 
the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  We  pray 
for  it,  we  work  for  it — a  little — and  we  give  our 


THE   COMING   OF   THE   KINGDOM   OF   GOD.       71 

money  for  it ;  and  yet,  after  all,  it  may  not  be 
tlie  kingdom  of  God  for  which  we  work  and 
pray,  but  the  kingdom  of  ourselves,  our 
thoughts,  our  opinions,  our  theological  doc- 
trines, our  ecclesiastical  polities.  The  Church- 
man wants  it  to  come — yes,  very  much  ;  but  he 
wants  it  to  come  along  the  line  of  the  Prayer 
Book  and  the  apostolic  succession,  and  to  have 
these  three  orders  of  the  ministry  in  it :  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons. 

The  Romanist  wants  it  to  come,  and  to  express 
itself  through  the  medium  of  papal  infallibility, 
and  unless  he  can  see  it  coming  in  that  way  he 
does  not  see  it  coming  in  the  world  at  all. 

The  Methodist,  the  Presbyterian,  the  Baptist 
— they  also  have  their  thoroughfares,  their  well- 
constructed  roads,  along  which  they  want  the 
kingdom  of  God  to  come. 

Now,  some  of  these  ways  may  be  right,  may 
be  much  better  than  others,  and  I  do  not  mean 
at  all  to  imply  that  because  a  person  is  a  zealous 
Romanist  or  a  devoted  Churchman  or  an  uncom- 
j)romising  Presbyterian  he  is  not  unselfishly  and 
sincerely  interested  in  the  coming  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  in  the  larger  sense.  He  may  be  ; 
and  yet  it  is  well  to  remember  that  nothing  is 
more  common,  more  easy,  than  self-deception. 


72   THE  COMING  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

and  tliat  religious  zeal,  as  Carlyle  tells  us  in  liis 
essay  on  Voltaire,  is  often  but  a  little  love  of 
truth  associated  with  a  great  love  of  making 
proselytes.  So  it  was  with  the  Jew,  so  it  has 
been  with  Christians  since,  so  it  may  be  with 
us.  How  shall  we  ascertain  whether  it  is  or  not  ? 
There  is  one  infallible  test.  Does  our  religion, 
whatever  we  call  it,  separate  us  or  have  a 
tendency  to  separate  us  from  our  fellow-men 
and  to  make  us,  in  a  measure,  unsympathetic 
with  them?  If  it  does,  then  we  may  be  sure, 
however  sound  our  faith,  however  true  our 
creed,  however  great  our  zeal,  that  it  is  not  God 
we  are  trying  to  exalt,  but  ourselves  in  the  name 
of  God. 

For  think  a  moment.  God  stands  for  Father- 
hood, and  Fatherhood  stands  for  love — a  great, 
strong,  protecting,  inextinguishable  love.  Love 
does  not  divide ;  it  unites ;  it  draws  people 
together  ;  it  is  a  bond  of  union  than  which  there 
is  none  more  intimate,  more  sacred,  or  of  more 
enduring  character ;  stronger  than  death, 
mightier  than  the  grave,  waters  cannot  quench, 
floods  cannot  drown,  flames  cannot  consume  it. 
And  if  our  religion  does  not  have  the  efl'ect  to 
touch  and  quicken  the  heart  with  that  deepest, 
purest,  and  most  expansive  of  passions,  and  to 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD,   73 

send  us  out  in  sympathy  strong  and  great  toward 
our  fellow-men  of  every  shade  and  grade,  of  every 
name  and  creed,  call  it  what  we  please — Protes- 
tant, Romanist— it  is  not  the  religion  of  Christ. 

The  religion  of  Christ,  my  friends,  is,  after  all, 
a  misnomer,  Christ  had  no  religion,  in  the  com- 
mon and  ordinary  sense  of  the  term  ;  and 
established  no  religion.  The  word  religion  is 
never  mentioned  by  him.  Christianity  is  not  in 
its  highest  and  sublimest  sense  a  religion,  and  it 
would  clear  our  minds  of  many  perplexities  and 
much  confusion  of  thought  if  we  ceased  to  re- 
gard it  as  such.  Jesus  Christ  simply  introduced, 
or  tried  to  introduce,  a  new  kingdom  into  the 
world.  There  were  other  kingdoms  then,  as 
there  are  now,  in  existence — the  kingdom  of  the 
Jew,  the  Roman,  the  Barbarian,  the  Greek ; 
Christ  would  introduce  another  which  should 
include  them  all,  binding  together  the  subjects 
of  many  into  the  sweet  fellowship  and  sympathy 
of  one — namely,  a  kingdom  of  love.  He  calls 
it  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  for  God  is  love. 
He  calls  it  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth,  for 
heaven  is  love.  He  calls  it  the  kingdom  of 
truth  on  earth,  for  truth  in  its  deepest  and 
purest  analysis,  and  wherever  found  in  the  uni- 
verse, in  this  world  or  in  others,  in  the  rocks  or 


74   THE  COMING  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

in  the  stars  or  in  the  microcosmic  dei^ths  of  the 
human  heart  and  soul,  is  but  the  expression  of 
the  great  All-Father's  love. 

That,  my  Presbyterian  friend,  is  what  all  your 
profound  theology  should  mean.  That,  my 
Episcopal  friend,  is  what  all  your  beautiful 
Church  polity  and  Apostolic  order  should  mean. 
That,  my  Romanist  friend,  is  what  all  the  vast 
and  complicated  machinery  of  your  admirable 
hierarchical  system  should  mean.  If  it  does 
mean  that ;  if,  like  nothing  else,  it  makes  your 
heart  burn  and  glow  with  that  great  embracing, 
transfiguring  passion  of  love — love  for  God  and 
man — then  for  you  it  is  right  and  good  :  stand  by 
it  and  hold  it  fast. 

If,  upon  the  other  hand,  it  has  the  effect  to 
alienate  you  from  your  fellow-men,  from  those 
who  do  not  hold  your  views,  who  do  not  share 
your  theological  or  ecclesiastical  opinions,  then, 
no  matter  how  great  your  zeal,  you  may  be  sure, 
that  like  the  Jew  in  the  time  of  Christ,  you  are 
self-deceived — it  is  your  own  kingdom  you  seek, 
and  not  the  kingdom  of  God. 

And  now,  having  tried  to  explain  what  I  think 
Jesus  meant  by  the  phrase,  let  me  go  on  for  a 
little  while  to  speak  of  the  coming  of  the  king- 
dom of  God. 


THE   COMING   OF   THE   KIIfGDUM   OF   GOD.        75 

Jesus  Christ  introduced  it  into  the  world,  but 
he  did  not  establish  it,  and  his  life  went  out  in 
failure,  or  seemed  at  least  to  do  so,  and  the  pur- 
pose that  inspired  him  was  not  a  successful  pur- 
pose. And  yet  full  well  he  knew  that  it  must 
at  last  prevail,  and  that,  lifted  up  from  the 
earth  in  the  sight  of  the  world  as  the  pure 
expression  of  perfect  love,  he  would  and  must 
draw  all  men  to  himself.  Has  he  not,  in  fact, 
been  doing  so  more  and  more?  Look  back 
over  the  Christian  ages.  What  is  it  that  we 
see?  Strife  and  contention  and  bigotry,  per- 
secution and  warfare  and  bloodshed,  on  the  part 
of  those  who  bear  the  Christian  name  !  Yes,  all 
that  we  see  and  deplore,  and  we  will  not  try  to 
cover  it  up  and  excuse  it ;  and  yet,  despite  all 
that  and  beneath  all  that,  there  is  something  else 
that  we  see.  That  man  is  but  a  poor  and  prej- 
udiced reader  of  history  who  cannot  and  does 
not  see  it,  who  does  not  see  the  advancing 
triumph,  slowly,  but  step  by  step,  of  a  kingdom 
of  love  on  the  earth,  which,  like  the  mighty 
ocean  tide,  held  in  check  for  a  time  and  appar- 
ently overcome  by  the  storm,  in  obedience,  never- 
theless to  an  attracting  i^ower  that  is  greater  and 
more  than  the  storm,  goes  rolling  steadily  on, 
with  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  many  a  wreck,  to 


76   THE  COMING  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

be  sure,  yet  rising  higher  and  higher  and  con- 
quering more  and  more. 

Hatred  and  strife  we  see.  Yes,  for  human 
nature  is  passionate  and  weak,  and  cannot  be  all 
at  once  and  easily  controlled  ;  but  love  we  also 
see,  like  sunlight  shining  through  the  clouds  or 
painting  its  beautiful  bow  of  promise  in  the 
arching  heavens  above  them.  Bigotry,  yes,  but 
benevolence.  Resentment,  yes,  but  forgiveness. 
The  infliction  of  wrong,  yes,  but  the  patient  en- 
durance of  wrong.  And  homes  are  blessed  and 
men  and  women  in  them,  and  hospitals  are 
established,  and  slaves  are  liberated,  and  the 
weak  and  the  poor  are  assisted,  and  the  suffering 
are  relieved,  and  works  of  mercy  abound.  Yes, 
despite  all  else,  it  is  the  coming  of  the  kingdom 
of  God,  the  kingdom  of  love,  that  we  see,  and 
which  Jesus  Christ  declares  will  ultimately  hush 
the  storms  of  life,  will  ultimately  still  the 
tempests  and  prevail  over  all. 

Why?  Simply  because  it  is  the  kingdom  of 
love,  whose  law,  whose  spirit,  whose  method, 
whose  motive  power  is  love.  Love — what  fear 
can  dismay  it,  what  obstacle  can  stop  it? 
Love — it  is  the  omnipotence  of  the  universe 
liberated  and  set  free  in  the  heart  of  man. 
Love — it  is  the  great  alchemist,  by  which   the 


THE   COMING   OF   THE   KINGDOM   OF   GOD.        77 

hardest  task  becomes  the  sweetest  joy.  The 
Christian  pulpit  speaks  at  times,  and  delivers  its 
message  to  us,  tries  to  make  us  see  what  our 
duty  is  toward  our  fellow-men.  But  duty  is  a 
harsh  and  ugly  word,  and  while  we  listen  and 
assent,  perhaps,  and  confess  that  it  is  our  duty, 
it  does  not  move  us  much,  and,  if  it  be  pressed 
too  hard,  we  are  irritated  and  vexed. 

But  Jesus  Christ  speaks  and  says:  "I  do 
not  want  your  duty  ;  I  simply  want  you  to 
see,  as  I  see,  the  sublime  vision,  rolling  across 
the  heavens  and  sweeping  across  the  earth,  of 
the  great  Father's  love.  Then  I  know  you 
will  try,  you  cannot  help  trying,  to  build 
his  kingdom  up." 

Love — it  is  the  great  despoiler  that  takes 
away  our  money,  then  gives  it  back  again  in 
more  precious  and  indestructible  form,  "  There 
was  an  old  man  who  had  an  abundance  of  gold, 
and  the  sound  of  the  gold  was  pleasant  to  his 
ears,  and  his  eyes  delighted  in  its  brightness. 
By  day  he  thought  of  gold,  and  his  dreams  were 
of  gold  by  night,  and  his  hands  were  full  of  gold, 
and  he  rejoiced  in  the  multitude  of  his  chests. 
But  he  was  faint  with  hunger  and  his  trembling 
limbs  shivered  beneath  his  rags,  and  there  came 
a  little  child  to   the  old  man  and  said,   '  Father, 


78       THE   COMING   OF   THE   KINGDOM   OF   GOD. 

father,  I  have  found  a  secret ;  we  are  rich  ;  we 
shall  not  be  poor  and  miserable  any  more  :  gold 
will  buy  all  things.'  And  the  old  man  was 
wroth  and  said,  '  Would  you  take  from  me  my 
gold?'  " 

Like  the  man  of  the  parable,  we  of  this  age 
have  been  surrounding  ourselves  with  our  pre- 
cious material  treasures  which,  although  when 
we  get  them  we  often  find  so  disappointing,  so 
powerless  to  feed  the  hungry  soul  and  warm 
the  shivering  heart,  we  nevertheless  so  dearly 
prize  and  carefully  hoard  and  guard  ;  and  when 
the  little  Christ  child  comes  and  tells  his  secret 
to  us  and  says,  "Give  them  away,  give  them 
away,  and  then  they  are  yours  forever,"  we 
become  wroth  and  angry,  and  say  to  him  in 
reply,   "Would  you  take  away  our  gold?" 

Yet,  my  friends,  is  it  not  a  true  message  ?  In 
our  little  limited  experience  have  we  not  found 
it  so  ?  It  is  only  when  Love,  the  great  despoiler, 
comes  and  takes  away  our  money  that  we  really 
have  it,  and  that  our  hearts  and  souls  are  warmed 
and  nourished  by  it.  We  lay  it  by  and  hold  it 
fast  and  will  not  let  it  go,  and  Love  comes  and 
opens  the  door,  and  all  the  treasures  fly  forth, 
not  only  in  blessing  to  others  but  in  blessing 
to    ourselves.      Father,  mother,   husband,  wife, 


THE   COMIISTG   OF  THE   KINGDOM   OF   GOD.       79 

child,  friend — someone  who  stands  for  love — has 
some  need,  some  want,  can  be  made  happy  by 
us,  and  w^e  take  our  dear  and  precious  money, 
our  beautiful  alabaster  box,  the  sweetest, 
dearest  thing  we  have,  and  pour  it  freely  out. 
Then  we  receive  it  back  again  an  hundredfold  in 
deepest,  sweetest,  purest  joy  into  our  hearts. 

ISTow,  that  is  the  power,  that  alone  is  the 
power — and  that  is  enough — which  Jesus  Christ 
reveals,  which  he  brings  to  bear  on  the  human 
heart.  This  is  the  weapon  which  he  puts  into 
our  hand  to  fight  with.  Without  it  we  can  ac- 
complish but  little.  Service  is  a  hardship,  duty 
is  a  joyless  task,  and  the  work  of  the  Christian 
Church  in  this  world,  despite  all  its  admirable 
machinery,  will  halt  and  stumble  and  falter  and 
drag  and  not  be  done.  But  the  kingdom  of  love 
appears,  the  bright  and  beautiful  vision  which 
Jesus  Christ  reveals  in  the  heavens  around  us  we 
see.  Its  glory  touches  the  heart,  opens  it  wide, 
wider,  and  awakens  a  new,  strong,  and  consum- 
ing passion  within  us.  Have  we  power  of  speech 
and  song?  This  one  thing  we  do — "  Thy  king- 
dom come,  Thy  kingdom  come" — and  we  press 
on  toward  the  mark.  Have  we  talent,  scholar- 
ship, learning,  health,  strength,  position  in  life, 
the  strong  and  manifold  power  that  lies  poten- 


80   THE  COMING  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

tial  in  money — "  Thy  kingdom  come"  is  onr 
prayer,  our  great  consuming  desire.  O  God  of 
love,  our  Father,  take  us  and  use  us  more  and 
more,  and  make  thy  kingdom  come  ! 

Or  we  have  been  laid  aside  and  there  is  noth- 
ing we  can  do  ;  some  heavy  burden  of  sorrow 
is  ours,  we  are  crippled  or  broken  by  sickness  or 
by  age,  or  are  circumscribed  by  a  contracted 
sphere  from  which  we  cannot  escape — tlien,  O 
God,  thy  will  be  done  !  Teach  us  how  to  be 
patient  in  our  little  narrow  place,  to  suffer  and 
to  wait. 

My  friends,  as  I  read  the  Gospel  story  and  try 
to  understand  it,  that  is  what  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  came  into  the  world  for ;  not  to  establish 
another  among  the  innumerable  religions — call 
it  that  if  you  please,  and  for  convenience'  sake  ; 
but  there  is  a  better  word  :  to  establish  a  new 
kingdom  on  the  earth,  namely,  a  kingdom  of 
love,  whose  doctrine  is  love,  whose  x^olity  is 
love,  whose  motive  power  is  love,  whose  king  is 
the  King  of  love,  and  who  puts  into  our  hands, 
not  the  flag  of  sect  or  church  or  partisan 
theology  but  the  great  banner  of  love,  and  bids 
us  go  into  all  the  world  and  conquer  in  that 
name. 

Have  we  seen   that  vision  which  Jesus  saw 


THE   COMING   OF  THE  KITSTGDOM   OF   GOD.       81 

sweeping  through  the  heavens,  and  which  he 
declared  would  ultimately  prevail  over  all  the 
earth  ?  Then  we  have  seen  the  sublimest  thing 
which  this  universe  contains  ;  we  have  seen  the 
vision  of  Gfod ;  we  have  learned  the  highest 
lesson  which  God  himself  can  teach,  "  that  life, 
Avith  all  it  yields  of  joy  and  woe  and  hope  and 
fear,  is  just  the  chance  of  the  prize  of  winning 
love." 

Then,  when  we  can  truly  say,  "  Our  Father  in 
the  heavens,"  we  can  also  say,  "Hallowed  be 
thy  name,  thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done 
on  earth  as  in  the  skies." 


THE  CHRISTIAN  AND  THE  THEATRE. 

Be  not  overcome  of  evil,  hut  overcome  evil  with  good. — Romans 
xii.  21. 

I  SAID  to  you  a  few  Sundays  since,  on  tlie 
feast  of  tlie  Epiphany,  tliat  the  truth  wliich  we 
commemorate  at  the  Epiphany  season  is  this  : 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  moral  and  spiritual  light 
of  the  world.  Last  Sunday  I  tried  to  show  you 
that  he  is  a  light  not  for  a  part,  but  for  the 
whole  of  the  world.  And  I  desire  to-day  to 
bring  out  and  emphasize  another  side  or  aspect 
of  this  same  thought,  and  to  direct  your  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  light  of 
the  whole  world — not  simply  in  the  sense  that 
his  Gospel  is  intended  for  all  nations,  but  in  the 
additional  sense  that  it  is  equally  intended  for 
all  the  parts  of  any  particular  nation.  I  wish 
to  show  you  that  it  is  diffusive  as  well  as  expan- 
sive ;  that  here  in  the  society  of  Christendom  as 
well  as  in  the  society  beyond  the  borders  of 
Christendom,  there  is  an  aggressive  work  to  be 
done,  and  that  it  is  our  duty,  as  the  disciples  of 
Jesus  Christ,  to  try  to  overcome  the  evil  im- 

82 


THE   CHRISTIAN   AND   THE   THEATRE.  83 

mediately  about  us — the  liugering  elements  of 
pagan  life  in  our  midst — with  the  positive  and 
aggressive  good  of  the  Christian  religion. 

The  subject  in  other  words  which  I  propose  to 
consider  is  this  :  the  relation  between  the  Chris- 
tian believer  and  the  unchristianized  features  of 
the  society  in  which  he  is  placed.  I  propose  to 
consider  it  first,  in  a  general  way,  and  then  with 
reference  to  that  particular  feature  of  our 
modern  society  spoken  of  or  known  as  the 
theatre. 

Christian  people  are  sometimes  much  per- 
plexed to  know  what  course  to  pursue,  with 
reference  to  certain  customs  and  institutions 
which  have  come  to  be  a  part  of  the  existing 
social  regime,  and  which,  although  not  essen- 
tially sinful,  are  yet  so  often  productive  of  sinful 
results  and  excesses.  I  do  not  know  anything 
more  difScult  and  embarrassing  to  the  conscien- 
tious Christian,  who  wants  to  perform  all  his 
duties  in  a  Christian  manner,  and  to  carry  his 
Christianity  out  into  all  the  relations  of  life, 
than  questions  of  just  this  sort.  They  are  ques- 
tions, too,  which  are  constantly  arising,  and 
which  no  one  of  us  is  able  to  escape.  "  Shall  I 
do  this,  or  shall  I  not  do  it  ?  Intrinsically, 
perhaps,   there  is  nothing  wrong  in  it,  and  it 


84  THE   CHRISTIAN   AND   THE   THEATEE. 

might  be  so  done  and  conducted  as  to  be  fruitful 
of  good ;  and  yet  I  know  that  it  is  in  fact  the 
occasion  at  times,  if  not  to  me,  to  others  at  least, 
of  very  serious  harm.  What  then  is  my  duty 
about  it,  and  how  shall  I  act  in  regard  to  it  ?" 

Now  if  everything  that  is  bad  in  this  world 
had  no  good  mixed  up  with  it,  but  were  alto- 
gether and  irredeemably  and  unmistakably  bad, 
and  were  so  marked  and  labeled,  it  would  not 
be  hard  to  discover  at  least  on  what  path  we 
should  walk ;  and  although  we  would  still  be 
tempted  at  times  to  yield  to  what  is  wrong,  it 
would  be  a  temptation  addressed  directly  to  the 
lower,  baser,  and  the  more  ignoble  part  of  our 
nature.  We  would  know  it  as  such,  and  the 
consciousness  of  that  fact  would  have  the  effect 
to  weaken  the  temptation  and  to  deprive  it  of 
much  of  its  power.  But  with  reference  to  the 
great  majority  of  things  in  which  from  day  to 
day  we  are  called  upon  to  engage,  that  is  not  the 
case.  They  are  not  altogether  bad,  nor  altogether 
good.  Their  character  is  mixed  and  composite. 
Some  persons  do  them  innocently.  Others  do 
them  wickedly.  Looking  at  them  from  one  point 
of  view  we  see  how  proper  they  are.  Looking  at 
them  from  the  opposite  point  of  view  we  see  how 
hurtful  they  are.     And  hence  it  is  that  we  find 


THE   CHRISTIAN   AND   THE  THEATRE.  85 

among  men,  and  among  good  men  too,  sucli  con- 
flicting judgments  concerning  tliem — liiirtful, 
harmless ;  wielded,  innocent ;  right,  wrong ; 
good,  bad.  Which  of  these  testimonies  shall  we 
accept  ?  Which  verdict  shall  we  believe  ?  It  is 
the  old  story  over  again  of  the  two  sides  of  the 
shield.  They  are  both  hurtful  and  harmless  ; 
they  are  both  wicked  and  innocent ;  they  are 
both  good  and  bad ;  and  each  of  these  verdicts, 
if  we  are  candid  and  fair,  and  are  not  hopelessly 
committed  to  some  prepossession  and  prejudice 
upon  the  subject,  we  soon  discover  and  are  ready 
to  admit  to  be  true.  This,  however,  as  I  have 
already  said,  instead  of  being  the  end  of  the 
perplexity,  is  but  the  beginning  of  it ;  and  the 
question  is  still  on  our  hands  :  What  course  shall 
we,  as  a  Christian  people,  pursue  with  reference 
to  all  those  matters  of  a  mixed  and  composite 
character  which  we  find  to  be  a  part  of  the  exist- 
ing social  economy,  and  in  which  we,  from  time 
to  time,  as  members  of  that  economy,  are  called 
upon  to  engage  ? 

Now  in  reply  to  this  question  there  are  three 
possible  answers— three  possible  policies  to  be 
pursued.  There  is  first  the  policy  of  indiffer- 
ence. "Things  are  what  they  are.  We  fourd 
them  here  when  we  came.     We  did  not  originate, 


86  THE   CHRISTIAN   AT^D   THE   THEATRE. 

are  not  responsible  for  them  ;  nor  is  it  likely 
that  we  can  change  them  much.  Let  us  be  care- 
ful, therefore,  to  be  pure  and  upright  in  our 
personal  and  domestic  relations,  and  as  for  these 
great  and  urgent  social  matters,  manners,  insti- 
tutions, and  customs  about  us,  let  us  just  drift 
with  the  tide."  That  is  the  policy  of  indiffer- 
ence into  which  some  Christians  so  easily  drop. 

Second,  there  is  the  policy  of  abstinence. 
There  is  so  much  that  is  damaging  to  the  moral 
and  spiritual  nature  in  these  social  pursuits,  they 
have  the  effect  in  so  many  instances  to  harden 
the  heart  and  the  conscience,  to  enhance  the  at- 
tractions of  vice,  and  undermine  the  foundations 
of  virtue  and  pure  and  virtuous  living,  men  are 
so  often  broken,  crippled,  ruined  for  life  in  their 
character  by  them,  that  in  spite  of  the  possibili- 
ties which  they  contain  for  good  when  they  are 
properly  done,  it  is  best  on  the  whole  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  them.  We  do  not  expect  by 
this  policy,  of  course,  to  be  able  to  destroy  them. 
We  do  not  think  that  we  will  stop  them.  They 
will  still  go  on,  as  a  part,  as  a  big,  vehement,  and 
attractive  part,  of  the  social  life  of  the  world, 
while  we  are  keeping  our  own  skirts  clean,  by  a 
complete  avoidance  of  them,  and  "laying  up 
treasure    in  heaven."     This    is    the    policy    of 


THE   CHRISTIAN   AND   THE   THEATEE.  87 

abstinence,    the  Puritanic  policy,  as  it  is  some- 
times called. 

There  is  yet  another  course,  and  that  is  the 
policy  of  conscientious  and  discriminating  par- 
ticipation in  them — the  policy  which  looks  up- 
on the  Christian  religion  as  essentially  militant 
and  aggressive,  and  believes  that  it  is  the  duty 
therefore  of  all  Christ's  disciples,  not  simply  to 
try  to  get  rid  of  and  escape  the  evil  themselves, 
but  in  the  name  of  their  Master  to  buckle  on  the 
armor,  and  go  forward  and  fight,  and  beat  back 
the  evil,  to  dislodge  it  from  its  stronghold,  to 
drive  it  out  of  its  territory,  and  to  conquer  and 
overcome  it  with  an  aggressive  good.  This,  I 
need  scarcely  tell  you,  is  the  hardest  course  of  all. 
It  requires  more  courage  and  strength,  makes  a 
man  more  watchful,  puts  him  more  on  his  guard  ; 
just  as  it  requires  more  courage  to  engage  with 
an  actual  enemy  upon  the  field  of  battle  than  to 
run  away  from  the  battle  or  to  go  through  the  tac- 
tics of  a  military  drill  in  an  armory.  And  yet, 
hard  as  it  is,  nothing  less  than  this,  I  think,  is 
the  scope  of  the  Christian  duty,  and  by  the  pur- 
suance of  no  other  course  can  we  hope  to  perform 
it.  This  world  and  every  lawful  factor  in  it  be- 
long to  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  cur  duty,  therefore, 
as  his  disciples,  not  simjDly  to  be  satisfied  with  a 


88  THE   CHRISTIAN  AND   THE   THEATRE. 

personal  avoidance  of  evil,  but  to  go  forward  and 
meet  it,  and  though  it  be  through  wounds,  and 
fatal  wounds  to  some,  to  overcome  it  with  good. 

And  now,  having  made  these  general  remarks 
upon  the  subject,  which  are  capable  of  endless 
applications,  and  which  you  can  make  for  your- 
selves, I  desire  to  give  you  this  morning  a  spe- 
cific illustration  of  them. 

Ought  Christian  people  to  go  to  the  theatre  ? 
That  they  do  go,  many  of  them,  I  am  well  aware. 
And  yet  there  is  a  feeling  upon  their  part,  more 
or  less  active  and  strong,  that  there  is  some- 
thing in  the  going  that  is  just  a  little  inconsistent 
with  the  Christian  character.  And  this  feeling 
shows  itself  in  the  fact  that  while  the  members 
of  the  congregation  go,  they  do  not  think  it  just 
the  thing  to  have  the  minister  go — at  least  some 
of  them  do  not.  And  if  you  ask  them  why,  they 
will  tell  you,  in  all  probability,  that  he,  by 
reason  of  his  position  in  the  community  and  in 
the  Church,  should  be  more  careful  about  his  ex- 
ample. An  answer  which  of  course  condemns  their 
own  conduct,  and  which  is  but  admitting,  as  any 
fair  and  logical  mind  can  see,  that  going  to  the 
theatre  is  not  quite  right.  For  if  it  is  quite  right, 
why  should  anybody  be  careful  about  his  ex- 
ample ?    If  it  is  not  quite  right,  it  is  wrong,  and 


THE   CHRISTIAN   AND   THE  THEATRE.  89 

tliey  are  doing  a  wrong  thing  in  going  ;  and  they 
should  be  sufSciently  logical  to  see  it,  and  suffi- 
ciently straightforward  to  acknowledge  it.  Ah, 
no,  my  friends,  let  us  not  be  willing  to  drop  into 
such  shallow  special  pleading  and  casuistry,  such 
"playing  of  fast  and  loose  "  with  conscience  ;  let 
us  try  for  a  few  moments  to  look  at  this  practical 
subject  in  a  truer,  broader,  and  more  rational 
way. 

What  is  the  theatre?  what  is  its  history? 
how  has  it  come  to  be  here  ?  I  need  not  tell  you 
that  it  is  an  old  institution  ;  that  every  nation 
has  had  it ;  that  it  has  been  a  part  of  every 
civilization.  Some  friends  of  the  drama  have 
traced  it  back  to  the  time  of  Moses.  This, 
of  course,  is  an  uncertain  jDedigree.  And  yet 
fragments  of  a  Hebrew  play  have  come  down  to 
us,  founded  upon  a  great  and  notable  event  in 
their  history — the  Exodus  of  the  children  of 
Israel  from  the  land  of  Egypt.  The  thing  which 
strikes  us  most,  however,  in  connection  with  the 
rise  of  the  drama  is  this :  that  although  we  do 
not  know  precisely  when  it  began,  yet  in  every 
instance  where  it  does  appear  for  the  first  time 
in  history,  it  is  associated  with  religion.  This 
was  the  case  in  Greece.  This  was  the  case  in 
western  continental  Europe.     This  was  the  case 


90  THE   CHRISTIAN   AND   THE   THEATRE. 

in  England.  The  drama,  in  fact,  as  another  has 
told  us,  was  the  chief  school  of  morals  and 
religion  in  those  primitive  times — and  to  an 
unlettered  people,  who  had  no  books  to  read, 
and  who  could  not  have  read  them  if  they  had. 

By  means  of  histrionic  representation  the 
stories  of  the  Grecian  mj^thology  and  of  the  Bibli- 
cal record  and  literature  were  made  to  appear  in 
graphic  and  appealing  form,  and  were  imprinted 
deeply,  strongly,  and  ineradicably  upon  the 
popular  heart.  Gregory,  the  Archbishop  of 
Constantinople,  was  himself  a  playwright  of  no 
mean  quality,  and  hoped,  as  Mr.  Ricliard  Grant 
White  tells  us,  to  banish  the  pagan  drama  from 
the  Greek  stage  and  substitute  plays  founded 
upon  subjects  taken  from  the  Hebrew  or  the 
Christian  Scriptures. 

The  first  plays  that  were  performed  in  Eng- 
land were  the  so-called  "Miracle  Plays,"  long 
lists  of  which  have  descended  to  our  time, 
containing  the  names  of  many,  and  from  which 
we  can  form  some  notion  of  what  they  were  like. 
There  was  a  play  called  "The  Creation," 
another  representing  "The  Fall  of  Man,"  "The 
Death  of  Abel,"  "The  Flood  of  Noah,"  "The 
Procession  of  the  Prophets,"  "The  Birth  of 
Christ,"    "The  Adoration  of    the   Shepherds," 


THE   CimiSTIAN   AND   TJIE   THEATRE.  91 

"The  Flight  of  Josej^h  and  Mary  into  Egypt," 
"The  Skinghter  of  the  Innocents,"  "  The  Adora- 
tion and  the  Offering  of  the  Magi,"  "The 
Baptism  of  Christ,"  "The  Temptation  of 
Christ,"  "The  Betrayal  of  Christ,"  "The  Death, 
the  Burial,  and  the  Resurrection  of  Christ,"  and 
almost  every  other  notable  incident  in  the  history 
of  our  Lord. 

The  first  performers  in  these  plays  were  clergy- 
men. The  first  theatres  were  Christian  churches. 
From  the  churches,  after  a  while,  they  passed 
into  the  yards  of  churches.  Then  they  got  upon 
wheels  and  were  moved  about  from  place  to 
place  in  the  country.  A  distinct  and  special 
class  of  professional  actors  was  created.  Suit- 
able and  permanent  buildings  were  erected. 
Other  scenes  began  to  be  represented  besides 
the  stories  of  Scrix^ture.  Forms  of  virtue  and 
vice  were  introduced  on  the  stage,  and  the 
"Miracle  Plays"  were  merged  in  time  into  the 
"  Moral  Plays."  Thus  gradually  was  the  theatre 
brought  down  into  the  real,  human  life  of  the 
immediate  time.  Satire  came,  and  wit  and 
humor  and  merriment  and  laughter  and  comedy 
made  their  appearance,  to  lash  with  their  ridicule 
the  forms  of  vice,  and  to  enforce  the  lessons  of 
virtue  and  morality. 


92  THE   CHRISTIAN   AND   THE   THEATRE. 

But  human  life  is  deeper  and  something  more 
than  a  laugh.  It  has  its  storms  of  passion,  its 
blighted  hopes  and  ambitions,  its  wrecked  and 
ruined  affections,  its  sin,  its  heart-breaking  sor- 
row, its  deep,  bitter  remorse ;  and  tragedy  fol- 
lowed in  the  wake  of  comedy,  until  all  human 
life  was  touched  wdth  histrionic  portraiture. 
The  drama  became  both  a  literature  and  an 
art — breaking  forth  into  rich,  magnificent,  and 
beautiful  bloom  in  the  Elizabethan  age — and  has 
been  ever  since  a  deeply  rooted  and  corporate 
part  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  civilization. 

Such,  in  brief,  in  too  brief  compass,  is  the 
history  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  drama. 
Reviewing  that  history,  looking  back  thought- 
fully over  it,  we  cannot  fail  to  notice  and  to  be 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  the  drama  is  not 
simply  a  superficial  attachment  to  our  social 
economy  ;  that  it  did  not  come  by  a  process  of 
statutory  enactment  ;  that  it  is  not  the  product  of 
any  particular  age.  Like  the  British  constitution 
itself  it  has  gradually  grown  out  of  the  habits, 
the  customs,  the  manners,  the  institutions,  the 
morals,  the  virtues  and  vices,  and  the  very  life 
of  the  people.  Therefore,  like  the  British  con- 
stitution, like  the  common  law,  it  has  come  to 
stay,  and  to  be  an  organic  and  integral  part  of 


THE   CHRISTIAlSr   AND   THE  THEATRE.  93 

the  Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  And  if  this  be 
true,  that  it  has  come  to  stay,  that  it  is  a  perma- 
nent and  abiding  factor  of  our  civilization,  what 
is  the  duty  of  Christian  people  toward  it  ? 

That  there  is  much  evil,  much  that  is  low, 
coarse,  base,  and  disgusting  in  the  drama  of  the 
present  time  no  good  man  Avill  question.  But 
remember,  my  friends,  that  this  social  world  of 
ours,  with  all  of  its  abiding  forces  and  factors, 
belongs  to  Jesus  Christ.  Evil  has  no  right  in 
it.  It  is  an  intruder  here.  The  world  belongs 
to  Christ.  And  it  is  our  duty,  therefore,  as  the 
representatives  of  Christ,  not  simply  to  avoid 
and  escape  the  evil  ourselves — ^by  running  away 
from  the  field  of  battle  and  taking  refuge  in 
flight — but  to  go  forward,  and  fight,  and  con- 
quer the  evil,  and  overcome  it  with  good. 

But  how,  practically,  may  this  purifying  work 
be  performed  ?  I  answer,  first,  by  exercising  a 
high  conscientiousness  in  the  matter.  Every- 
thing that  touches  and  deals  with  the  human 
passions — like  music,  like  oratory,  like  poetry, 
like  art,  like  the  drama — may  be  and  has  been 
abused.  .  But  instead  of  denouncing  these 
things,  let  us  distinguish  carefully,  with  an  un- 
compromising conscientiousness,  between  the 
legitimate  use  and  the  unlawful  abuse,  giving 


94  THE   CHEISTIAN   AND   THE   THEATEE. 

our  support  and  sanction  to  the  one  and  our 
strongest  condemnation  to  [the  other.  This,  I 
know,  is  a  difficult  course  to  pursue.  But  it  is  a 
difficulty  we  cannot  avoid.  It  meets  us  all  the 
way  through  life,  in  every  sphere  and  relation  in 
which  we  are  called  to  act.  Difficult  as  it  is, 
therefore,  let  us  try  to  perform  here  the  same  dis- 
criminating task  that  we  are  called  upon  to  j)er- 
form  everywhere  else.  And  instead  of  resorting 
to  the  miserable  subterfuge  of  drawing  a  line 
between  the  pew  and  the  23ulx)it — one  section  of 
the  Christian  Church  going  to  the  theatre  care- 
lessly, thoughtlessly,  as  fancy  moves  and  oppor- 
tunity offers,  the  other  section  of  the  Christian 
Church  never  going  at  all,  because  it  should  be 
more  careful  about  its  example,  and  "It  is  not 
quite  right" — let  us,  as  Christian  men  and 
women,  learn  to  distinguish  constantly,  care- 
fully, conscientiously,  between  the  right  and  the 
wrong,  between  the  good  and  the  bad.  This  will 
not  completely  reform  the  drama  to-day,  nor 
to-morrow,  nor  the  day  after.  But  it  will  have 
the  effect  to  reform  it  in  the  end. 

The  second  method  I  would  suggest  is  akin 
to  the  first,  although  of  slower  action  and  of 
more  gradual  efficacy,  and  that  is :  the  cul- 
tivation   of  a  purity  and    refinement  of    moral 


THE   CHRISTIAN   AND   THE   TIIKATRE.  95 

sentiment,  a  strength  and  vigor  of  intellectual 
culture,  that  cannot  be  contented  with,  and  will 
not  condescend  to  anything  that  is  vulgar  and 
cheap  in  quality  or  coarse  and  unworthy  in 
its  intellectual  tone.  "  The  social  civilization  of 
a  people,"  says  the  Earl  of  Lytton, "  is  always  and 
infallibly  indicated  by  the  intellectual  character 
of  its  popular  amusements  ;  and  of  such  amuse- 
ments the  stage  is  by  far  the  most  important." 
And  if  our  modern  stage  be  not  of  a  very  high 
character  it  must  be  because  the  culture  of  our 
modern  society  is  not  of  a  very  high  order. 

Our  one  and  great  ambition  up  to  the  present 
time — I  speak  of  the  people  at  large — our  one  and 
great  ambition  up  to  the  present  time  has  simply 
been  to  make  and  to  amass  more  money.  For 
this  we  have  striven  and  toiled,  so  engrossed 
with  the  desperate  passion,  so  wasted  and  worn 
with  the  task,  that  we  have  left  ourselves  but 
little  leisure  for  the  growth  and  the  development 
of  the  other  x>arts  of  our  nature.  We  have  had 
no  time  for  intellectual  culture.  We  have  had 
no  time  for  literary  pursuits.  We  have  had  no 
time  for  scholarly  growth  and  study.  We  have 
had  no  time  for  anything,  except  with  feverish 
haste,  and  waste  of  the  nervous  energy,  to  try  to 
make  more  money.     And  then,  when  the  need  of 


96  THE   CHRISTIAN   AND   THE  THEATRE. 

recreation  lias  come,  we  liave  just  dropped  for  a 
few  hours  into  and  taken  up  with  anything  that 
happened  to  be  at  hand. 

As  the  nation  gets  okler,  as  it  becomes  more 
highly  developed,  as  the  people  grow  in  moral 
and  intellectual  stature,  their  popular  amuse- 
ments will  correspondingly  grow  and  become 
of  a  better  character.  The  drama  will  then  be- 
come again  what  it  has  been  in  the  past,  to  use 
again  the  language  of  the  Earl  of  Lytton,  "not 
the  resort  and  the  amusement  simply  of  the  vi- 
cious and  the  vulgar,  but  the  great  and  effective 
instrument  by  means  of  which  the  lofty  ideals, 
the  heroic  types  of  human  life,  the  great  and 
strong  movements  of  the  human  soul,  will  be 
plainly  and  prominently  depicted  before  the  re- 
sponsive and  educated  imagination  of  the  peo- 
ple." In  the  meanwhile,  let  us  try  by  the  cul- 
tivation of  a  pure  moral  sentiment,  and  a  high 
intellectual  standard,  to  do  our  part,  gradually, 
slowly,  indirectly  it  is  true,  yet  none  the  less 
effectively,  towards  making  the  drama  what  it 
ought  to  be. 

Now,  if  anybody  should  infer  from  what  has 
been  said  this  morning  that  I  desire  to  give  more 
laxity  and  license  to  the  Cliristian  life,  it  will  cer- 
tainly not  be  the  impression  which  I  have  sought 


THE   CHKISTIAlSr   AND   THE  THEATRE.  97 

to  produce.  My  aim  lias  been  to  show  you, 
rather,  that  the  Christian  life  is  not  simply  the 
singing  of  hymns  and  the  saying  of  prayers  on 
Sunday,  but  that  it  is  coterminous  with  the  life 
of  all  society;  that  its  duty  is  not  exhausted 
simply  by  a  j^ersonal  avoidance  of  evil,  but  that 
it  has  a  militant  and  an  aggressive  work  to  per- 
form, and  that  into  every  sphere,  every  relation 
of  the  social  economy,  its  aim  should  be  to  push 
and  drive  out,  and  to  keep  on  pushing  and  driv- 
ing out,  the  evil,  until  at  last  it  has  overcome  it 
with  good. 


HIDING  FROM  GOD. 

And  Adam  and  Ms  wife  hid  themselves  from  the  presence  of  the 
Lord  God  amongst  the  trees  of  the  garden.  And  the  Lord  called 
unto  Adam,  and  said  unto  him,  Where  art  thou  f — Genesis  iii,  8, 9. 

In  commenting  upon  these  words  there  are 
two  remarks  which  I  wish  to  make  by  way  of 
introduction.  The  first  is  this,  that  human  life 
in  the  Bible,  although  in  its  superficial  accidents 
of  time,  place,  circumstance,  and  other  conven- 
tional adjuncts  it  differs  more  or  less  from 
human  life  to-day,  is  nevertheless  in  its  funda- 
mental tendencies  and  dispositions  the  same. 
The  second  remark  is  that  the  relation  of  God 
to  human  life  in  the  Bible,  while  in  some  respects 
as  there  described  it  appears  and  is  unique,  is 
chiefly  so  in  appearance,  and  is  virtually  like 
the  relation  which  he  is  sustaining  to  it  at  the 
present  time. 

My  purpose  is  to  illustrate  this  morning  in  a 
particular  way  these  two  general  propositions — 
to  show  you  that  now,  as  formerly,  as  ever,  men 
are  wont  to  hide  themselves  from  God  among  the 
trees  of  the  garden  where  he  has  placed  them ; 

98 


HIDING  FEOM  GOD.  99 

and  second,  that  in  their  hiding  from  him,  his 
searching,  quickening  voice  is  heard,  saying  to 
each  from  time  to  time,  "  Where  art  thou  ?  " 

First,  consider  the  hiding.  Looking  at  the 
matter  theoretically — apart,  that  is,  from  what 
experience  and  observation  teach — one  would 
naturally  suppose  that  the  thought  of  the  great, 
good  God,  who  has  made  this  world  and  put 
men  in  it  to  enjoy  it,  would  be  a  welcome 
thought,  and  that  in  their  enjoyment  of  it,  or  in 
wandering  through  and  among  the  trees  and  eat- 
ing the  fruit  of  the  garden,  they  would  be  moved 
instinctively  with  gratitude  toward  the  Giver, 
and  would  find  it  a  pleasant  thing  to  keep  him 
in  their  minds.  Such,  however,  is  not  the  way 
in  which  men  act  or  in  which  they  feel  toward 
God.  On  the  contrary,  they  try  to  forget  him, 
to  put  him  out  of  their  minds,  or  to  think  of  him 
only  when  by  reason  of  some  calamity,  sickness, 
or  other  disaster,  or  by  the  approach  of  death, 
perhaps,  they  are  compelled  to  think  of  him. 
Their  notion  seems  to  be  that  God  is  only  for 
emergencies,  like  that  of  the  good  hostess,  Mrs. 
Quickley,  in  Shakspere's  "Henry  Y.,"  when 
describing  the  death  of  Falstaff:  "So  he  cried 
out  and  said,  God,  God,  God,  three  or  four 
times.     Now  I  to  comfort  him  bid  him  that  he 


100  HIDING   FEOM   GOD. 

should  not  tliink  of  God.     I  lioj)ed  there  was  no 
need  yet  to  trouble  himself  about  that." 

Her  idea  was  that  if,  as  she  hoped  and 
believed,  or  at  least  would  have  Falstail  believe, 
he  was  not  going  to  die,  it  was  quite  unnecessary 
and  premature  to  turn  his  mind  toward  God  and 
religion  ;  bad  as  the  case  seemed,  it  was  not  as 
bad  as  that,  she  hoped,  that  he  had  to  think 
about  God. 

So  it  is  with  many  persons  now — who  think  of 
God  and  religion  only  when  they  can  think  of 
nothing  else,  when  their  hold  on  this  world  has 
been  loosened  a  little,  and  they  are  about  to  take 
a  journey  into  some  other  world  of  which  they 
have  had  no  experience,  and  about  which  in 
consequence  they  have  some  apprehension,  as  one 
always  has  when  facing  the  unknown.  Then, 
like  Falstaff,  they  cast  themselves  on  God  and 
cry  out  for  his  help,  and  send  perhaps  for  his 
minister  to  come  and  administer  the  sacrament 
and  show  them  how  to  die  and  cross  the  border- 
line into  the  world  beyond.  As  long,  however, 
as  death  and  disaster  seem  remote,  they]  are 
immersed  in  this  world  ;  God  is  forgotten  by 
them — or  at  least  they  try  to  forget  him — among 
the  beautiful  trees  of  the  garden  in  the  midst  of 
which  he  has  placed  them  ;  and  why  ? 


HIDING   FKOM   GOD.  101 

Ah,  men  and  women,  how  true  to  human 
nature,  in  every  age,  from  the  beginning  till 
now,  is  this  wonderful  Bible  of  ours. 

Why?  For  the  same  reason  that  Adam  and 
Eve  did  in  the  old  Genesis  story  ;  they  have  eaten 
of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  which  God  commanded 
tlioy  should  not  eat.  They  have  done  and  are 
doing  still  what,  as  they  know  very  well,  despite 
all  their  attempts  at  self- justification,  they  ought 
not  to  do.  They  have  an  evil  conscience, 
the  sense  of  guilt  is  upon  them,  they  are  not 
living  right,  and  they  know  it — yes,  they  know 
it — and  the  thought  of  God  troubles  them, 
makes  them  afraid.  They  try  to  get  away  from 
it,  to  cover  it  up,  to  crowd  it  out,  to  forget  it, 
and  so  instead  of  wandering  through  the  garden 
with  God,  they  wander  through  it  without  him, 
or  try  at  least  to  do  so  ;  and  what  is  the  result? 
They  are  not  at  peace,  as  many  of  you  are  not, 
and  are  trying  to  find  a  peace  in  the  garden  itself, 
which  the  garden  itself,  however  big  and  beauti- 
ful, does  not  and  cannot  give. 

Is  not  that  true,  my  friends  ?  Look  and  see. 
See  how  hard  men  are  trying  to  find  peace  to- 
day, and  how  great  the  garden  is,  how  exten- 
sive, how  diversified,  how  full  of  bloom  and 
beauty  in  which  they   are  trying  to   find    it. 


102  HIDING   FROM  GOD. 

Our  political  economists  are  telling  us — and 
we  are  listening  witli  complacency  to  their 
words — how  exceptionally  great  and  prosper- 
ous the  nineteenth  century  is,  in  productive 
plant  and  machinery,  in  mineral  resources,  in 
agricultural  fruitage,  in  commercial  exchanges, 
in  mechanical  skill,  in  facility  of  inter- 
course, in  rapidity  of  communication,  rail- 
road, telegraph,  telephone — our  whole  industrial 
system,  how  great,  how  prosperous  it  is.  It  is 
true.  Never  was  a  century  like  it.  The  world 
of  human  interest,  the  garden  in  which  men 
toiled  and  digged  in  former  days,  was  compara- 
tively little  and  barren.  To-day  it  is  wealthy 
and  fruitful,  and  cultivated,  and  easy  to  get 
about  in  !  So  that  if  people  do  not  like,  or  for 
any  reason  get  tired  of,  one  place — Bar  Harbor, 
or  Lenox,  or  Newport,  or  the  Pacific  coast,  or 
Europe,  or  Paris,  or  Constantinoi^le — they  can 
easily  go  to  another.  Or,  if  they  do  not  go  in 
person,  they  can,  in  the  flash  of  a  moment,  send 
their  messages  there,  and  the  ends  of  the  world 
are  brought  into  communion  with  them.  And 
the  products  of  the  earth,  of  all  the  earth,  gath- 
ered in  every  clime  and  country,  are  made  to  go 
by  car  and  boat,  by  wheel  and  keel,  across  the 
land    and  water,    in    all    directions,   by   them. 


HIDING   FROM   GOD.  103 

Never  was  tlie  garden  so  big,  nor  were  the  trees 
in  it  so  beautiful  and  fruitful,  nor  men  so  suc- 
cessful in  gathering  the  fruit  of  the  trees. 

Yet,  instead  of  finding  peace  in  it,  that  is 
about  the  only  thing  which  they  are  not  finding, 
and  which  they  seem  to  be  getting  farther  and 
farther  away  from.  Peace  !  why,  the  word  is  a 
satire  on  our  civilization.  Never  was  there  a 
time  when  there  was  so  little  of  it  in  the  hearts 
of  men,  of  all  estates  and  classes,  the  rich  man 
and  the  poor,  the  idle  man  and  the  busy,  the 
professional  man  and  the  mechanic,  the  toiler, 
the  thinker,  the  bread-winner  of  every  class  of 
either  sex,  successful  or  unsuccessful,  as  there  is 
to-day.  It  is  not  a  military  age  ;  militarism, 
we  are  told,  is  past,  and  in  the  sense  that  fight- 
ing on  the  field  of  battle  is  not  so  frequent  as 
formerly, — though  the  standing  armies  are  big- 
ger,— nor  so  much  resorted  to  in  the  adjustment 
of  difficulties,  the  statement  perhaps  is  true. 
Militarism  is  past,  yet  none  the  less  it  is  an  age 
of  warfare — bitter,  relentless,  perpetual,  univer- 
sal, and  the  demon  of  unrest  is  at  its  heart. 

Look  at  the  great  host  of  the  workmen,  as  by 
courtesy  they  call  themselves,  the  men,  that  is, 
engaged  in  manual  labor,  the  demos,  the  people, 
the  mass,  moving  on,  dissatisfied,  toward  some- 


104  HIDING   FROM   GOD. 

tiling — they  know  not  what,  and  cannot  formu- 
late— but  something,  nevertheless,  which  they 
think  they  ought  to  have,  and  which  in  one  way 
or  another,  by  fair  means  or  foul,  they  are  deter- 
mined to  get !  Is  there  peace  there,  in  that  part 
of  the  garden  ? 

Look  at  the  great  captains  of  industry — the 
men  who  have  been  successful,  who  have  gath- 
ered the  spoils,  and  are  rich  !  Their  one  feverish 
ambition,  inflaming  them  more  and  more,  and 
which  like  the  rod  of  Moses  is  devouring  every- 
thing else,  is  to  find  new  fields  of  conquest  and 
to  gather  further  spoils.  Is  there  peace  there? 
Why,  it  is  difficult  to  say  in  which  of  the  two 
classes  of  the  nineteenth  century  industrial  life, 
the  top  or  the  bottom,  the  rich  or  the  poor,  there 
is  the  greater  unrest. 

Leaving  the  dust  of  toil  and  the  vulgar  noise 
of  the  street,  look  at  some  of  the  cultivated  spots 
in  the  garden.  Look  at  the  so-called  fashionable 
world,  which,  despite  its  kaleidoscopic  brilliancy 
of  movement  and  conventional  activity,  has  so 
little  natural  charm  and  originality  in  it — which 
lack  of  originality  I  presume  Goethe  had  in 
mind  when  he  satirically  described  good  society 
as  "that  condition  of  life  which  furnishes  no 
material  for  poetry,"  and  which  led  Mr.  Adding- 


iiidt:n-g  from  god.  105 

ton  Symonds  to  say,  "How  liardly  sliall  they 
that  wear  evening  clothes  and  ball  dresses  enter 
the  kingdom  of  art," — Is  peace  dullness:  is  it 
the  synonym  for  inanity  ? 

Look  at  the  political  world,  where  the  feeling 
"I  am  as  good  as  you  and  better"  is  the  active 
and  turbulent  force  ;  where  wisdom  is  determined 
not  by  weighing  heads  but  by  counting  them,  no 
matter  how  little  is  in  them ;  in  which  the  ver- 
dict of  yesterday  is  sure  to  be  changed  to-mor- 
row because  there  are  more  heads  and  perhaps 
as  ignorant  coming  u^d  to  be  counted,  as  if  the 
pacification  of  human  society  were  to  be  found  in 
popular  elections  and  'plebiscites: — Is  peace 
there  ? 

Or  still  again  look  at  the  philosophical  world, 
at  the  leaders  and  captains  of  "  modern  thought," 
who,  in  studying  the  phenomena  of  the  universe, 
the  heavens  with  their  telescope,  and  the  earth 
with  their  geological  hammer,  and  human  life 
upon  it  with  their  materialistic  analysis,  find  so 
often  nothing  but  matter  and  force,  no  spirit,  no 
God — oh,  my  friends,  with  the  burdens  of  life 
ux)on  us  and  the  miseries  of  life  around  us  and 
the  sharp  cries  of  distress  and  pain  from  so  many 
quarters  coming  into  our  ears,  and  a  strange 
dark  journey  awaiting  us  :  Is  there  peace  there  ? 


106  HIDING   FKOM   GOD. 

So  if  we  sliould  go  throughout  the  whole 
garden  of  modern  life,  the  conclusion  would  be 
more  vividly  imi^ressed  upon  us  that  while  men 
are  finding  in  it  almost  everything  else  to-day, 
they  are  not  finding  jjeace.  Why  ?  Because  it  is 
not  there.  No,  men  and  women,  it  is  not  there. 
Peace  does  not  come  from  without ;  it  comes 
from  within  ;  from  communion  with  a  life  which 
does  not  change — which  is  the  same  yesterday, 
to-day,  and  forever.  It  comes  from  God,  from 
the  consciousness  on  the  part  of  men  that  they 
belong  to  and  are  the  children  of  God ;  that 
despite  their  sin,  their  disobedience,  their  un- 
worthiness,  He  who  made  the  garden  and  put 
them  in  the  midst  is  their  friend,  and  holds  them 
fast  and  loves  them  with  a  strong,  eternal  love. 
That  gives  peace,  and  that  alone  gives  it.  And 
so  we  come  to  the  other  side  of  that  old  human 
story,  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  that  the  great  God 
of  the  universe,  who  knows  better  than  we  where- 
in our  peace  consists,  is  forever  searching  for  us 
in  our  hiding  from  him,  and  saying  to  each  from 
time  to  time,  as  to  Adam  and  Eve,  ' '  Where  art 
thou?" 

In  how  many  different  ways  do  Ave  hear  his 
voice !  Adam  and  Eve  heard  it  in  the  Genesis 
story,  and  we  also  hear  it. 


HIDING   EKOM   GOD.  107 

We  hear  it  at  times  in  the  very  quiet  and 
stilhiess  of  the  garden — when  wandering  in  the 
summer,  as  some  of  us  have  been  recently  doing, 
along  the  ocean  beach,  or  through  the  quiet 
w^ood,  or  under  the  evening  sky — far  away  from 
the  haunts  of  men  and  the  clatter  and  the  noise 
of  the  city  ;  a  longing  deep  and  pure  is  awak- 
ened in  us  that  we  know  not  how  to  express. 
Yes,  we  hear  it  then,  and  a  sweet  quickening 
influence  as  from  some  more  beautiful  world  be- 
yond the  earth  and  fairer  than  the  firmament 
over  it  seems  to  come  and  touch  our  hearts,  and 
"thus  give  us  note  that  through  the  place  we  see 
a  place  is  signified  we  never  saw,"  but  to  which 
nevertheless  we  belong.  We  are  lifted  up  in- 
stinctively to  the  thought  and  feel  the  presence 
of  God  and  seem  to  hear  his  voice. 

Or  we  hear  it  at  other  times,  not  in  the  silence, 
but  in  the  disturbing  and  affrighting  noises  of 
the  garden — the  fierce  strife  of  the  tempest,  the 
mighty  roar  of  the  winds,  the  tumult  of  the  war 
of  the  elements,  when  the  trees  are  swept  by  the 
wind,  and  the  bolts  of  the  lightning  fall  "as  if 
God's  messenger,  through  the  close  wood-screen, 
plunged  and  replunged  his  weapon,  at  a  venture, 
feeling  for  guilty  thee  and  me ;  then  breaks  the 
thunder  like  a  whole  sea  overhead."     The  search- 


108  HIDING   FROM   OOD. 

ing  God  has  found  us.  Trembling  in  our  hiding- 
place,  which  is  a  hiding-place  no  longer,  we  seem 
to  hear  his  voice  saying  to  ns,  "Oh,  man,  oh, 
woman,  where  art  thou?" 

Or  we  hear  it,  not  in  the  world  without,  but  in 
the  world  within ;  in  our  affectional  nature  ;  in 
our  human  love,  which  when  purest  and  best 
always  seems  to  have  a  touch  of  the  Infinite  in 
it,  as  though  it  were  God  himself  whom  we  were 
trying  to  reach  ;  or  as  though  it  were  his  voice 
speaking  through  the  broken  accents  of  our  poor 
earthly  affections  and  saying,  "Give  me  thy 
heart!" 

Or  in  our  moral  nature  we  hear  it,  in  those 
admonitions  of  conscience  from  which  we  cannot 
escape,  though  we  try,  and  which,  notwithstand- 
ing our  efforts,  still  have  dominion  over  us ;  or 
when  through  that  strange  and  subtle  law  of  asso- 
ciation— the  sight  of  a  place  or  a  person,  the 
sudden  and  unexpected  happening  of  an  event, 
a  word,  a  sound,  a  fragrance,  the  breath  of  a 
flower,  the  note  of  a  bird — the  old  past  life  comes 
rolling  back  ;  and  the  memory  of  some  forgotten 
sin,  some  base  betrayal  of  manhood,  some 
cowardly  desertion  of  principle,  some  guilty  in- 
dulgence, revives.  Then  it  is  that  we  seem  to  be 
lifted  up  with  fear  and  trembling  to  the  thought 


HIDING   FROM   GOD.  109 

of  a  Holy  God,  and  to  hear  his  voice,  saying, 
"  whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also 
reap." 

We  hear  it  again,  when  we  have  learned  from 
experience  that  a  life  of  self-indulgence  does  not 
give  the  satisfaction  which  we  thought  it  would. 
We  hear  it  when  we  meet  with  reverses  and  the 
blight  has  come  into  our  garden,  and  the  bitter- 
ness of  death  is  upon  us.  We  hear  it  in  that 
sadness,  that  strange,  dreamy  sadness,  which 
seems  to  be  associated  with  success  in  this  world 
even  more  than  with  failure ;  or  when,  with  the 
consciousness  of  our  moral  defects  and  blemishes, 
our  insincere,  tortuous,  selfish,  disingenuous  con- 
duct, we  are  suddenly  brought  face  to  face  with 
some  pure  and  noble  character,  some  brave  and 
generous  action,  and  wish  that  we  might  have 
done  or  might  have  been  like  that.  In  all  these 
different  ways  does  the  thought  of  God  break  in 
upon  us  in  our  hiding  from  him,  and  we  are  made 
to  hear  his  voice  saying,  "Oh,  soul  of  man,  soul 
of  man,  where  art  thou  ? " 

But  sweeter  and  more  appealing  than  all  is 
the  voice  of  God  speaking  to  us  in  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Hearing  his  voice  in  the  world 
without  or  in  the  world  within,  the  sound  of  it 
makes  us  afraid.     We  know  that  we  are  not 


110  HIDING  FROM   GOD. 

clean  and  pure.  We  have  broken  liis  laws,  and 
sinned,  and  eaten  time  and  again  of  the  fruit  of 
the  forbidden  tree ;  and  although  we  cannot 
escape  him,  we  would  do  so  if  we  could.  But 
hearing  his  voice  in  Jesus  Christ  saying  to  us, 
"  I  love  you,  I  forgive  you  ;  no  matter  what  you 
have  been  and  done,  or  what  you  have  failed  to 
do,  I  love  you  with  a  love  which  nothing  can 
change  and  from  which  nothing  can  sever — 
neither  life  with  all  its  risks,  nor  death  with  all 
its  uncertainties,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities, 
nor  powers  ;  nor  things  present  nor  things  to 
come — from  which  nothing  can  sever":  that 
gives  peace.  It  gave  it  once  to  a  man  of  the 
first  century,  troubled  and  tried  on  every  hand, 
and  who  felt  himself  to  be  the  chief  of  sinners, 
and  it  can  give  it  now  to  a  man  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

May  you  and  I,  my  friends,  hear  that  voice  of 
God  !  The  garden  in  which  we  are  living  is  big 
and  beautiful  and  fruitful.  Let  us  get  out  of  it 
all  that  we  can  ;  let  us  try  to  make  it  bigger  and 
more  fruitful  ;  but  let  us  not  try — for  we  cannot 
do  it — to  hide  ourselves  from  God  in  it,  or  to  find 
in  the  garden  itself  a  peace  which  the  garden 
itself,  however  big  and  beautiful,  does  not  and 
cannot  give.     We  have  tried  the  worldly  method  ; 


HIDING   FROM   GOD.  Ill 

let  US  go  back  and  try  the  old  method  of  the 
Gospel  of  Jesns  Christ,  and  in  all  our  seeking, 
let  us  seek  first  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  and  in 
all  our  wandering  through  the  garden  let  us 
wander  through  it  with  God, 


MASTERSHIP. 

The  Master  is  come. — St.  John  xi.  28. 

There  is  in  tliis  world  a  genuine  mastersliij) 
whicli  everybody  respects  and  gladly  acknowl- 
edges. There  is  also  a  spurious  and  counterfeit 
mastership,  a  false  simulation  of  the  real,  which 
secures  no  lasting  homage  and  fails  to  accomplish 
the  purpose  at  whicli  it  aims.  This  morning  I 
shall  try  to  point  out  the  difference,  in  my  judg- 
ment, between  them,  or,  more  xwecisely  and  par- 
ticularly, shall  address  myself  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  question.  How  do  our  masters  come  ? 
What  are  the  conditions  of  their  coming,  and  the 
marks  of  their  suj)remacy  ? 

First,  I  observe,  the  master  comes  by  birth. 
God  sends  him.  The  God  who  has  made  men's 
faces  to  differ  so  that  no  two  of  them  are  alike, 
however  closely  twinned,  has  also  endowed  their 
natures  with  diverse  germs  of  power,  which  cir- 
cumstances may  strengthen  or  awaken,  but  can- 
not create.  The  greatness  or  the  small  ness  of 
every  person  in  mental  and  moral  stature  and  in 
the  scope  of  his  personal  influence,  is  decided  for 
him  at  the  outset  as  strictly  as  it  is  decided  for  a 

113 


MASTEESHIP.  113 

fruit,  to  use  Mr.  John  Ruskin's  simile,  whether 
it  shall  be  an  aj)ricot  or  a  pear. 

The  subsequent  influence  of  external  surround- 
ings will  determine  whether  the  growing  apricot 
shall  fall  as  a  shriveled  green  bead,  blighted  by 
the  breath  of  the  fatal  east  wind,  and  contradict- 
ing its  early  i^romise,  or  whether  it  shall  expand 
into  a  tender  joy  and  beauty,  exhaling  a  per- 
fume delicately  rich  and  clad  in  the  sweet  bright- 
ness of  a  golden  velvet  vesture.  But  the  apricot, 
whether  shriveled  or  ripened,  is  only  and  always 
an  ax^ricot,  and  the  pear  and  the  acorn  and  the 
pine  cone,  and  their  counterparts  among  men 
and  women. 

That  people,  therefore,  differ  from  one  another 
is  not  so  much  due,  as  in  this  age  of  extravagant 
faith  in  the  power  of  environment  we  are  apt  to 
think,  to  the  manifold  character  of  their  circum- 
stances as  to  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God.  'No 
one  can  exercise  a  masterly  j)rerogative  and 
power  in  this  world  except  he  has  first  received 
it  as  a  birth  endowment  from  God. 

Nor  does  it  matter  much  where  or  in  what 
place  he  is  born, — the  crowded  metropolis,  the 
isolated  farmhouse,  the  inland  town,  the  city  by 
the  sea,  a  stable,  a  manger,  a  cattle  trough, — the 
great  thing  is  he  is  born,  and  if  circumstances 


114  MASTERSHIP. 

give  the  oiDportunity  and  the  other  conditions  are 
realized,  of  which  I  will  presently  speak,  he  will 
in  due  time  be  heard  from. 

That  is  the  first  condition — the  master  comes 
by  birth,  God  sends  him. 

The  second  is  by  baptism,  and  when  I  say  by 
baptism,  I  use  the  word  as  it  is  used  in  connec- 
tion with  Jesus  Christ,  which  signified  in  his 
case  not  the  acquiring  of  new  power,  but  the 
awakening  of  his  human  consciousness  to  power 
already  possessed.  When,  therefore,  I  say  that 
baptism  is  the  second  condition  of  mastership,  I 
mean  the  coming  to  the  consciousness  of  what 
one  is  and  has,  and  of  what  he  can  do  with  it. 
Otherwise,  although  he  may  have  it,  he  will 
have  it  as  though  he  had  it  not. 

You  remember  the  story  which  Thackeray  tells 
in  his  "Vanity  Fair,"  of  the  great,  strong,  stal- 
wart fellow,  who  is  cuffed  and  kicked  and  tor- 
mented and  shamefully  treated  by  every  boy  in 
the  school,  and  does  not  dare  to  resent  it.  Upon 
one  occasion,  however,  driven  to  bay  and  exas- 
perated beyond  all  endurance,  he  turns  and  faces 
his  foe  and  fights  and,  to  his  own  surprise  and 
that  of  everybody  else,  conquers.  From  that 
day  on,  having  been  baptized  or  born  again  into 
the  consciousness  of  the  strength  he  possessed, 


MASTERSHIP.  115 

the  coward  is  a  hero,  the  chain jjion  oi  the  school, 
a  soldier  in  the  army,  an  officer  in  the  regiment, 
a  veteran  in  the  service.  He  finds  his  true  career 
in  this  world,  and  moves  with  distinction  in  it, 
only  when  he  has  first  found  and  taken  posses- 
sion of  himself. 

The  incident  is  fiction  and  yet  it  is  real  life. 
Are  there  not  many  like  him  whose  faculties,  after 
slumbering  in  undisturbed  repose,  have  sud- 
denly been  awakened  by  some  new  need  or 
emergency,  some  new  responsibility,  some  public 
calamity  perhaps,  like  the  breaking  out  of  a  war ; 
and  who  except  for  that  would  never  have  known 
what  they  were  and  what  they  could  do,  and 
never  would  have  done  it  ?  Except  for  that  they 
would  have  remained  unknown  to  themselves 
and  the  world — clerks  in  little  village  stores,  like 
the  one  in  Illinois  ;  teachers  more  or  less  ob- 
scure in  military  academies,  like  the  one  ia 
Louisiana  ;  lieutenants  in  the  army,  occupying 
obscure  military  posts,  like  the  one  in  Oregon  or 
Texas,  or  quiet  country  gentlemen  living  upon 
their  farms,  like  the  one  which  is  now  the  shrine 
of  the  American  peojDle,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Potomac,  in  Fairfax  County,  Virginia.  * 

*  This  sermon  was  preached  on  the  22d  of  February,  and  the 
references  here  are  to  Generals  Grant,  Sherman,  Sheridan,  and 
Washington. 


116  MASTERSHIP. 

The  occasion  did  not  make  these  men.  God 
made  them,  for  the  same  occasion  confronted 
others  also,  but  the  occasion  came  and  awakened 
them  and  made  them  see  and  feel  and  take  pos- 
session of  themselves — revealed  them  to  them- 
selves, and  they  then  revealed  themselves  to  the 
world.  As  it  is  in  affairs,  so  is  it  also  in  letters. 
The  Trojan  war  did  not  make  a  Homer,  but  it 
awakened  him,  made  him  see  who  and  what  he 
was,  as  he  had  never  seen  before,  and  then  the 
world  in  the  immortal  Iliad  saw ! 

The  exile  from  Florence  did  not  make  a  Dante, 
but  it  made  him  conscious  as  nothing  else  before 
had  done  of  the  genius  hidden  within  him,  which 
conscious  possession  of  his  genius  enabled  him  to 
produce  that  Divine  Comedy  "that  startled 
Europe  from  her  somnambulism  of  a  thousand 
years." 

The  Bedford  Jail  did  not  make  a  John  Bunyan, 
but  it  made  him  see  and  know  as  he  had  never 
known  before  who  John  Bunyan  was,  and, 
coming  thus  to  the  consciousness  of  his  deeper, 
stronger  self,  he  produced  the  wonderful  story 
which  has  cheered  and  comforted  so  many  Chris- 
tian hearts  in  their  pilgrim  progress  toward  the 
Celestial  land. 

Yes,  in  letters  as   in  affairs,  in  every  line  of 


MASTERSHIP.  117 

conduct,  in  every  department  of  thought,  it  is 
not  from  the  men  who  have  power  merely,  but 
from  the  men  who  know  they  have  it,  that  the 
greatest  achievements  have  come.  By  some  fact 
or  incident  they  have  been  made  to  perceive 
it,  to  know  it,  to  feel  it,  to  use  it.  Their  con- 
fidence in  what  they  could  do  has  given  them 
courage  to  do  it,  or  at  least  to  attemjpt  it.  They 
were  not  intimidated  as  other  men  by  its  perils 
and  risks.  They  have  crossed  the  trackless 
waters,  explored  the  unknown  continents,  led 
the  way  into  a  darkest  Africa  or  out  of  a  darkest 
England,  and  their  faith  in  themselves  has  given 
to  others  faith. 

It  is  true  that  often,  very  often,  men  have  been 
mistaken,  have  had  altogether  too  much  confi- 
dence in  themselves,  and  so  have  egregiously 
failed.  But  is  it  not  equally  true,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  men  have  often  failed  to  do  what  they 
might  have  done  because  they  have  not  had 
enough  confidence  in  themselves  ?  They  have 
never  done  much  good  in  the  world  simply 
because  they  never  knew  how  much  good  they 
could  do.  They  have  not  perceived  or  realized 
the  power  that  God  has  given  them.  They  are 
not  up  to  themselves  and  the  measure  of  their 
opportunity,  like  a  man  who  has  made  a  fortune 


118  MASTERSHIP. 

but  does  not  know  how  to  use  it,  and  does  not 
see  the  great  and  potential  blessing  in  it. 

These  then,  it  seems  to  me,  are  the  conditions 
of  mastership  :  First,  the  possession  in  fact  of 
some  born  gift  or  a  capacity  ;  and  second  its 
possession  in  consciousness.  The  person  must  be 
born  with  power,  and  then  born  again,  or  bap- 
tized, and  awakened  into  the  knowledge  of  that 
power. 

But  this  is  not  all.  For  after  a  person  has 
found  himself,  who  he  is  and  what  he  can  do,  he 
must  then  sink,  lose,  obliterate  himself  in  some 
great  work  or  cause  that  takes  him  outside  of 
himself,  and  this  is  the  third  condition — burial, 
or  death. 

Some  great  cause  must  come,  some  great  duty 
appear,  which  touches  and  kindles  his  heart 
and  lifts  him  out  of  himself ;  which  more  than 
himself  he  loves  ;  and  to  which  with  a  consuming 
passion  he  must  devote  himself.  There  is  no 
personal  mastership  or  greatness  in  this  world, 
nor  ever  will  be,  without  it.  Some  great  and 
strong  enthusiasm  must  come  and  take  pos- 
session of  the  force,  the  talent,  the  genius, 
that  has  been  awakened  in  him — patriotism, 
truth,  righteousness,  the  welfare  of  his  country, 
the  good  of  his  fellow-men,  or  the  spread  of  the 


MASTERSHIP.  119 

Christian  Gospel,  and  the  establishment  on  the 
earth  of  the  Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ, 

Then  he  may  be  strong  and  know  it,  and  yet 
know  it  all  the  while  as  though  he  knew  it  no-t 
— no  vanity,  not  the  slightest,  no  arrogance  in 
his  knowledge.  With  St.  Paul  he  may  honestly 
feel  how  far  short  he  comes  and  how  unworthy 
he  is,  because,  like  St.  Paul,  he  is  not  measuring 
himself  with  other  men  in  this  world — that  were 
a  petty  and  contemptible  task — but  with  the 
great  work,  the  great  cause  or  calling  which  is 
forever  before  him  beckoning  him  on  and  on,  to 
which  with  genuine  consecration  he  has  given  and 
devoted  himself,  in  which  he  has  buried  himself. 

And  yet  he  is  not  buried  or  does  not  stay 
buried,  for  from  that  grave  he  rises  with  the 
glory  and  greatness  of  the  cause  itself  shining 
forever  upon  him.  He  becomes  identified  with 
it ;  he  seems  to  be  to  his  fellow-men  the  incarna- 
tion of  it,  and  thereafter,  when  they  think  of 
it,  they  always  think  of  him  who  has  embodied 
it  to  them,  and  all  the  ideal  virtues  which  it 
represents  are  a  halo  around  his  brow,  and  all 
the  great  blessings  for  which  it  forever  stands 
are  a  chrism  upon  his  head. 

The  measure  of  their  love  for  it  is  their  love 
for  him,  and  the  enthusiasm  which  it  inspires  is 


120  MASTEESHIP. 

kindled  by  his  name.  This  is  the  king's  high- 
way, on  which  the  greatest  of  the  earth  have 
walked.  The  history  of  the  world  is  simply  the 
history  of  their  influence  and  of  what  they  have 
done.  Other  men  and  women  have  seemed  to 
take  some  part  in  it  and  have  taken  some  part  in 
it,  but  it  was  these  masters,  these  great  ones, 
who  insi^ired  them,  lifted  them  up,  sent  them  on, 
and  helped  them  to  do  their  work. 

"  A  cork  float  danced  upon  the  tide  we  saw 
This  morning,  blending  briglit  with  briny  dews. 
There  was  no  disengaging  soaked  from  sound, 
Earth  product  from  the  sister  element  ; 
But  when  we  turn  the  tide  will  turn,  I  think, 
And  bare  on  beach  will  lie  exposed  the  buoy. 
A  very  proper  time  to  try  with  foot  and  rule, 
And  even  finger,  which  was  buoying  wave, 
Which  merely  buoyant  substance  ;  power  to  lift 
And  power  to  be  sent  skywax'd." 

Like  that  of  the  little  cork  float  is  the  power 
of  the  many,  the  power  to  be  lifted,  to  be  taught, 
to  be  guided,  to  be  sent.  The  i^ower  of  the  few  is 
to  lift  the  multitude  and  to  send  them  skyward. 

"How  quickly  and  readily,"  says  Emerson, 
"do  we  enter  into  their  labors  and  take  posses- 
sion of  them."  "Every  ship  that  comes  to 
America  got  its  chart  from  Columbus  ;  every 
novel  is  a  debtor  to  Homer  ;  every  carpenter 
who  shaves  with  a  foreplane  borrows  the  genius 


MASTERSHIP.  121 

of  some  forgotten  inventor  ;  life  is  girt  all  round 
with  a  zodiac  of  sciences,  the  contributions  of 
men  who  have  perished  to  add  their  point  of 
light  to  our  sky." 

This,  then,  is  the  way  the  masters  come.  First 
by  birth  endowment.  God  sends  them.  Then 
the  bai^tismal  awakening  and  consciousness  of 
themselves.  Then  the  effacement,  burial  of 
themselves  in  their  consecration  to  some  great 
calling  of  God.     Birth,  Baptism,  Burial. 

The  American  people  have  recently  been 
reminded  of  some  great  names,  ^  which  sug- 
gest the  conditions  of  a  masterly  character  to 
which  I  have  referred.  God  gave  them  power, 
rare  power  ;  the  occasion  came  and  awakened  it, 
and  then — it  is  no  rhetorical  exaggeration  to 
say — with  a  rare  sacrifice  they  merged  and  buried 
themselves  in  their  country's  cause,  and  the 
glory  of  this  nation  hereafter  among  the  nations 
of  the  world  will  be  their  glory,  too. 

I  have  in  my  mind  this  morning  one  pre-emi- 
nent Master — the  master  of  us  all — who,  by  his 
influence  in  this  world,  has  proved  himself  to  be 
such.  The  story  of  his  wonderful  birth  is  not 
incredible  to  me.  It  seems  to  fit  and  be  con- 
gruous with  his  still  more  wonderful  character. 

*  Generals  Grant  and  Sherman. 


122  MASTEESHIP. 

The  story  of  his  wonderful  baptism — the 
heavens  opening  and  a  voice  giving  divine  com- 
mission to  him  as  the  eternal  Son  of  the  Father — 
is  not  strange  to  me,  and  if  I  had  been  standing 
then  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  knowing  what 
I  now  know  of  the  wonderful  power  of  Jesus 
Christ,  I  vv^ould  have  expected  to  hear  such  a 
voice. 

The  story  of  his  wonderful  death — his  meek 
and  quiet  submission,  although,  as  he  says,  and 
I  believe,  he  miglit  have  summoned  legions  of 
angels  to  his  defense  ;  the  mocking,  the  scourg- 
ing, the  crown  of  thorns,  the  cry  from  the 
Cross,  "It  is  finished,"  the  darkness  over  the 
land,  the  veil  of  the  temple  rent  in  twain — it  is 
what  I  would  expect,  it  is  the  kind  of  death 
that  I  would  expect  one  so  supremely  great  to 
die,  who  had  come  to  give  himself  for  the  world, 
and  who,  in  consequence,  has  been  ever  since  the 
world's  Master. 

Yes,  the  Master  is  come,  and  calleth  for  thee. 
Do  you  hear  ?  Will  you  heed  ?  Like  the 
member  of  the  Bethany  household,  to  whom 
the  words  were  first  addressed,  will  you  arise 
quickly  and  go  to  him  ? 


WALKING  WITH  GOD  TO-DAY. 

And  Enoch  walked  with  God,  and  he  was  not  :  far  Ood  took 
him. — Genesis  v.  24. 

This  verse  appears  in  the  earliest  extant 
genealogical  table.  It  is  called  the  book  of  the 
generations  or  descendants  of  Adam.  A  very- 
great  longevity  is  attributed  to  these  descend- 
ants ;  each  of  them  is  stated  to  have  lived  many 
hundreds  of  years — one  of  them  nearly  a  thou- 
sand. That  they  actually  did  live  as  long  as 
that,  some  of  you  might  find  it  a  little  hard  to  be- 
lieve. Nor  is  it,  in  my  Judgment,  important  that 
you  should  believe  it.  It  would  not  do  you  any 
good  nor  help  you  if  you  did  ;  and  yet  the  Bible 
is  meant  to  helji  you.  How  does  it  help  you 
here,  and  what  is  the  lesson  taught  ?  If  you  will 
read  the  chai^ter  you  will  find  that  it  is  a  record 
of  many  very  long  lives — Jared,  and  Setli,  and 
Enos,  and  others — which,  although  so  long, 
ended  at  last  in  death ;  and  of  one  relatively 
very  much  shorter  life,  Enoch's,  scarcely  more 
than  one-third  as  long,  which  did  not  end  in 
death.     And  this  is  the  reason  given:    "Enoch 

123 


124  WALKING   WITH   GOD   TO-DAY. 

walked  with  God"  ;  and  this  is  the  lesson 
taught,  that  the  life  which  walks  on  earth  with 
God,  although  in  comparison  with  others  it  may 
seem  to  be  much  shorter,  does  in  fact  outlive 
them  all,  and  is  longer,  for  that  is  life,  indeed, 
a  life  that  has  no  death  in  it,  a  life  that  does 
not  die.  It  is  of  that  deathless  life  that  walks 
on  earth  with  God  that  I  desire  this  morning  to 
si^eak. 

Walking  with  God  :  the  phrase  to-day  has  an 
obsolete  sound,  and  the  thing  itself  seems 
strange  ;  and  as  we  hear  it  spoken  our  minds  go 
back  to  the  past,  and  we  think  of  apostles  and 
proj)hets  and  martyrs  and  the  old-time  saints  and 
hermits  and  recluses  and  anchorites,  when  the 
world  was  not  so  big,  and  its  affairs  were  not  so 
numerous,  and  its  interests  were  not  so  absorb- 
ing. Then  indeed  it  was  i)ossible  for  men  to  go 
off  somewhere  by  themselves  and  search  and 
study  the  Scriptures,  and  read  their  books  of 
devotion,  and  watch  and  pray  and  meditate  all 
day  long  and  reflect  on  things  eternal.  Then 
indeed  it  was  possible  for  men  to  walk  with  God, 
and  they  did  walk  with  God,  and  if  we  had 
been  living  then,  we  too  might  have  walked  with 
God. 

But  we  are  living  now,  and  the  situation  is 


WALKING   WITH   GOD   TO-DAY.  125 

different,  is  altogether  different ;  and  liere  in 
New  York  City,  for  instance,  with  all  its  push 
and  rush  and  drive,  and  all  its  social  demands 
and  all  its  business  exactions,  its  numerous 
affairs  and  cares,  that  have  to  be  constantly 
looked  after,  and  which,  if  not  constantly  looked 
after,  will  surely  go  wrong  and  astray,  and  per- 
haps get  hurt  and  wreclied,  and  we  too  get  hurt 
and  wrecked— here  in  our  New  York  City  life, 
how  can  we  walk  with  God  ?  Is  it  not  simply 
out  of  the  question  ?  Say  our  prayers  all  day  ? 
Why,  we  have  scarcely  time  to  say  our  prayers 
hurriedly  and  j)erfunctorily  for  a  few  moments 
in  the  morning  before  we  rush  down-town  upon 
the  rapidest  transit  that  we  can  find,  and  throw 
ourselves  again  into  the  maelstrom  there. 

Now  this  may  all  be  wrong,  unwise,  unhealthy, 
undesirable  ;  we  may  wish  that  it  were  not  so  ; 
but  it  is  so,  and  how  are  we  going  to  change  it  ? 
Well,  we  cannot  change  it ;  and  if  we  are  to 
walk  with  God  to-day,  we  must  learn  to  do  so 
under  those  conditions  which  the  life  of  to-day 
imposes,  for  we  cannot  get  out  of  the  present 
and  we  cannot  reproduce  the  past.  And  not  by 
trying  to  go  apart  from  temporal  duties  and 
things, — that  is  impossible, — but  while  dwelling 
in  them,  we  must  manage  somehow  to  be  quick- 


126  WALKING    WITH    GOD    TO-DAY. 

ened  and  helped  and  guided  and  gladdened  by 
tilings  that  are  eternal. 

And  so  we  may  be,  and  not  by  going  apart, 
but  here  and  now  where  we  are,  in  the  very 
thick  of  affairs,  with  all  their  crowding  and  pres- 
sure, with  all  their  racket  and  noise — we  may 
hear  the  voice  of  God,  and  find  and  feel  and  have 
him,  and  walk  in  communion  with  him.     How? 

A  good  many  people  seem  to  have  the  notion, 
and  I  susiDect  some  of  you  have,  that  in  order  to 
get  where  God  is  they  must  do  so  by  making  a 
journey  of  some  sort,  by  a  process  of  locomotion, 
by  going  to  somewhere  else  than  where  they  are 
at  present.  "God  is  not  here,"  they  say; 
"God  is  there,  or  there;  or,  if  he  is  here,  he  is 
not  so  much  here  as  he  is  there"  ;  not  so  much 
down-town  in  the  office  of  the  lawyer  or  the 
banker,  or  the  counting  room  of  the  merchant, 
or  the  floor  of  the  Stock  Exchange,  as  he  is  up- 
town in  one  of  the  churches  on  Sunday. 

And  as  long  as  they  feel  that  way,  of  course 
they  do  not  try  very  hard — perhaps  do  not  try 
at  all — to  find  him  in  the  office,  or  the  shop,  or 
the  bank,  or  the  counting  room,  or  on  the  floor 
of  the  Stock  Exchange  ;  for  what  is  the  use  of 
trying  to  find  him  when  he  is  not  there,  or  is  not 
much  there  ?    There  is  no  use  ;  and  as  a  result 


WALKING   WITH   GOD   TO-DAY.  127 

of  this  localizing  of  God  and  going  on  journeys 
to  meet  liim,  there  has  come  to  be  a  localizing,  or 
what  I  may  call  a  provincializing,  of  religion,  as 
though  it  were  something  that  did  not  appeal  to 
the  real  life  of  the  world,  but  something  to  be 
done  and  practiced  outside  of  it,  or  more  par- 
ticularly outside  of  it,  at  particular  times  and 
seasons,  when  we  get  sick  or  when  we  are  in  dis- 
tress or  trouble,  or  when  we  think  that  we  are 
going  to  die — a  local  thing,  a  sectional  thing,  a 
provincial  thing,  to  be  taken  up  and  used  when 
the  occasion  comes,  and  then  laid  down  and  care- 
fully put  aside  until  the  occasion  comes  back 
again. 

And  looking  at  religion  in  this  provincial  way, 
men  speak  of  it  with  a  provincial  speech  ;  as 
when  we  hear  them  say,  and  we  not  infrequently 
do  :  "  Business  is  business,  and  religion  is 
religion  ;  they  belong  to  different  spheres,  have 
different  rules  of  conduct  and  different  standards 
of  judgment,  and  they  must  not  be  confounded  ; 
for  business  is  business,  and  religion  is  religion." 
Well,  the  man  who  talks  that  way  may  know 
something  of  what  business  is,  but  he  has  not  the 
faintest  conception  of  what  religion  is.  For 
religion  does  not  mean  to  walk  without  God  on 
the   world's  great  noisy  throughfares  six  days 


128  WALKII^G   WITH   GOD   TO-DAY. 

out  of  seven,  and  tlien  for  a  few  hours  on  the 
seventh  to  walk  with  God. 

No  ;  what  religion  tells  us  is  this :  that  God  is 
everywhere,  equally  everywhere ;  just  as  much 
in  the  office,  the  bank,  the  store,  the  shop,  the 
counting  room,  the  drawing  room,  the  ballroom  ; 
just  as  much  on  the  floor  of  the  Stock  Exchange 
as  he  is  in  St.  Bartholomew's  Church  or  in  any 
other  church.  And  why  ?  Because  you  are 
there,  and  where  you  are,  God  is  ;  the  place  in 
which  you  dwell  is  consecrated  by  you,  or  by 
the  God  who  is  in  you.  It  is  helpful,  indeed, 
most  helpful,  to  turn  aside  at  times  to  some 
particular  place — the  closet  of  prayer,  the 
church — and  there  to  think  about  God ;  and 
the  place  or  the  building  devoted  to  that  is  a 
sacred  place  and  a  consecrated  building ;  but 
you  must  be  careful  not  to  consider  it  conse- 
crated in  such  manner  that  when  you  go  away 
from  it  you  go  away  from  God. 

No,  no.  God  goes  where  you  go  ;  where  you 
journey,  he  journeys ;  where  you  walk,  he 
walks;  where  you  are,  he  is;  "in  thyself  is 
God,"  is  the  teaching  of  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures— "  Say  not  in  thine  heart,  who  shall  ascend 
into  the  heavens  to  bring  him  down  from  above  ; 
who  shall  descend  into  the  deep  to  bring  him  up 


WALKING   WITH   GOD   TO-DAY.  129 

from  beneath  ;  in  tliy  mouth,  in  thy  speech,  in 
thy  heart,  in  thyself  is  God."  Keep  your  heart 
pure,  keep  your  thought  pure,  keep  your  speech 
pure  ;  when  you  go  to  the  jjublic  banquet,  when 
you  go  to  the  private  dinner,  when  you  linger 
around  the  table  after  the  ladies  have  witli- 
drawn,  and  engage  in  friendly  and  fandliar  talk 
and  tell  your  stories  there,  keep  your  thought 
]oure,  keep  your  speech  pure,  let  no  unclean 
communication,  suggestion,  or  insinuation  come 
out  of  your  mouth.  There  is  the  place  to  walk 
with  God,  not  here  ;  there  at  the  dinner  table  is 
the  place  to  walk  with  God,  and  that  is  the  way 
to  do  it. 

Or  when  you  have  withdrawn,  you  women, 
and  are  talking  about  your  friends  and  gossix)ing 
about  your  neighbors,  and  are  tempted  to  tell 
little  scandalous  stories  about  them,  refrain  and 
chasten  your  tongue,  have  a  care  to  your  speech, 
put  charity  into  your  heart ;  that  is  the  place 
and  way  for  you  to  walk  with  God. 

And  so  throughout  all  life,  my  friends, 
throughout  the  whole  range  of  conduct ;  as  you 
meet  one  another  in  trade,  in  society,  in  manag- 
ing your  affairs,  ordering  your  households, 
projecting  your  plans,  making  your  big  busi- 
ness deals,  and  trying  to  enlarge  the  scope  of 


130  WALKING   WITH   GOD   TO-DAY. 

your  calling  and  to  make  it  a  more  profitable 
and  a  more  fruitful  tiling — but  I  need  not 
specify  ;  everywhere  there  is  a  voice  divine  with- 
in you  ;  you  can  hear  it  if  you  will — be  true  to 
it  and  let  it  speak.  There  is  a  light  divine  within 
you — be  true  to  it  and  let  it  shine.  There  is  a  life 
divine  within  you — be  true  to  it  and  let  it  win, 
though  you  lose  something  else,  however  dear, 
that  you  want  to  have  and  keep.  That  is 
religion,  that  is  to  walk  with  God. 

Did  you  think  it  was  something  else,  some- 
thing different  from  that  ?  that  it  was  a  raptur- 
ous, beatific,  ecstatic  sort  of  thing,  possible  for 
people  who  lived  in  the  olden  time  when  the 
world  was  not  so  big,  and  possible  for  some 
people  now  perhaps,  who,  like  clergymen  and 
others,  are  supposed  to  live  a  little  apart  from 
the  real  life  of  the  world — but,  situated  as  you 
are,  hardly  possible  for  you  without  making  a 
radical  change  in  your  circumstances  which  you 
are  not  able  to  make  ?  No,  no.  The  path  on 
which  to  walk  with  God  is  just  that  plain,  prac- 
tical, prosaic,  commonplace  path  on  which  you 
are  walking  every  day.  And  walking  there  with 
purity,  with  truth,  Avith  honor,  with  high  char- 
acter, you  are  walking  with  God  just  as  much 
as  any  apostle  or  jorophet  or  martyr  ever  did, 


WALKING   WITH   GOD   TO-DAY.  131 

or    any    Scriptural    hero    or     any    traditioHal 
saint. 

I  look  forward  to  the  last  great  day,  and  it 
seems  to  me  I  can  see  one  coming  up  to  the  gates 
of  the  beautiful  city.  It  is  not  an  angel  or  a 
seraph  with  shining  robe  and  a  crown  on  his 
head  and  a  golden  harp  in  his  hand,  making 
sweet  and  rapturous  music  as  he  passes  along. 
It  is  not  a  saint  out  of  the  calendar,  with  a  halo 
around  his  brow,  who  looks  as  though  he  had 
just  come  out  of  the  oratory  after  long  prayers 
and  fastings  and  vigils.  It  is  the  image  and 
form  of  a  man,  who  looks  as  though  he  had  just 
come  out  of  the  shop  or  the  ofRce  or  the  counting 
room  at  the  end  of  the  task  of  the  day — and  the 
dust  of  toil  is  on  his  clothes,  and  the  marks  of 
work  are  on  his  hands,  and  the  lines  of  care  are 
on  his  face  ;  but  he  seems  to  hold  up  his  head  as 
though  he  had  not  wronged  or  defrauded  or 
slandered  his  neighbor,  and  there  is  a  look  in  his 
eye  which  seems  to  say:  "I  have  been  square 
and  honest  and  true  with  my  fellow-men"  ;  and 
I  ask.  Who  is  this  man,  and  why  is  he  here? 
and  I  seem  to  hear  a  voice  which  says  :  "  Lift  up 
your  heads,  O  ye  gates,  and  be  ye  lift  up,  ye 
everlasting  doors,  and  let  him  come  in  and  enter, 
for  this  man  has  walked  with  God." 


132  WALKING   WITH   GOD   TO-DAY. 

Yes,  that  is  to  walk  with  God.  It  is  just  to 
cast  ourselves  upon  God  and  to  try  to  be  loyal 
and  true,  wherever  we  are,  to  the  light  divine 
within  us,  to  the  life  divine  within  us,  and  to  let 
it  win  and  shine.  Hard  ?  Oh,  yes  ;  it  is  very 
hard,  and  sometimes  costs  us  very  much  ;  but  all 
high  living  is  hard,  and  it  is  just  as  feasible  and 
jDossible  to-day  as  it  ever  was  in  the  past. 

Now,  let  me  say,  as  briefly  as  possible,  just 
two  or  three  things  about  this  life  that  walks 
on  earth  with  God. 

And,  first,  it  witnesses  to  its  own  reality,  and 
proves  itself  by  itself  and  needs  no  other  proof. 
How  do  we  know  that  the  physical  life  is  a 
reality  ?  Because  we  are  living  the  physical  life, 
because  we  are  iDhysically  alive.  How  do  we 
know  that  the  mental  life  is  a  reality  ?  Because 
we  are  living  somewhat  the  mental  life,  because 
we  are  mentally  alive. 

There  may  be  somewhere  in  the  universe  some 
other  form  of  life  than  the  one  which  we  are  liv- 
ing, but  if  there  is  we  do  not  and  cannot  know  it, 
and  if  we  should  hear  it  spoken  of  and  described, 
it  would  be  but  a  name  or  a  word,  mystic,  nebu- 
lous, without  any  meaning.  There  may  be  in  the 
universe  somewhere  such  a  thing  as  angelic  life, 
angel  life,  but  we  do  not  know  what  it  is  and 


WALKING  WITH    GOD   TO-DAY.  133 

cannot  know  what  it  is.  Wliy  ?  Because  we  are 
not  angelically  alive,  we  are  not  angels  ;  and  if  we 
are  to  know  that  the  angel  life  is  real,  it  can  only 
be  by  having  the  angel  life  living  in  ourselves. 
That  is  the  way  to  know,  and  tlie  best,  if  not  the 
only,  way  to  know  that  the  God  life  is  real. 
The  man  who  does  not  live  it  much  is  the  man 
who  does  not  believe  in  it  much.  It  is  to  him 
but  a  name  ;  God  is  to  him  b^^t  a  name,  full  of 
sound,  and  perhaps  fury,  but  signifying  nothing. 
But  to  the  man  who  does  live  it,  who  tries  in  the 
midst  of  common  work  and  task,  business 
engagements  and  social  fellowships  and  private 
conversations,  to  be  obedient  and  true  to  what  is 
purest,  noblest,  and  best  within  him — not  best 
at  the  moment,  it  may  be,  but  ideally  best — 
to  him  God  is  very  real,  and  the  life  of  God 
in  the  soul  is  real,  and  he  believes  it  because 
he  lives  it,  and  he  needs  no  proof  to  confirm  it, 
no  argument  to  make  it  sure  ;  it  witnesses  to  its 
own  reality.  It  witnesses  also  to  its  deathless 
reality.     "  If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again  ?" 

Thousands  of  years  ago  that  question  was 
asked,  and  who  since,  by  argument  or  by  demon- 
stration, has  answered  it,  or  who  has  come  back 
from  beyond  the  grave  to  give  the  answer  to  it  ? 
And  yet  for  you  and  for  me  that  is  fast  becom- 


134  WALKING   WITH   GOD   TO-DAY„ 

ing  the  greatest  and  tlie  intensest  of  all  ques- 
tions, wliicli,  as  we  see  our  friends  go  awaj^  and 
realize  that  we  ourselves  will  presently  have  to 
follow,  breaks  forth  at  times  into  a  bitter  cry 
that  almost  breaks  the  heart.  Yet  where  is  the 
answer  found?  Science  says,  It  is  not  in  me. 
Scholarship  says,  It  is  not  in  me.  Philosophy 
says,  It  is  not  in  me  ;  I  may  suggest  an  answer, 
may  make  it  seem  most  probable  that  human  life 
goes  on  and  is  not  conquered  by  death,  but  con- 
quers and  overcomes  it;  but  fully,  clearly, 
assuredly  the  answer  is  not  in  me. 

But  why  look  to  philosophy,  why  summon 
scholarship  to  help  ?  In  ourselves  is  the  an- 
swer. Living  or  trying  to  live  day  after  day, 
hour  after  hour,  in  obedience  to  what  is  jiurest 
and  best  and  divinest  within  us,  the  assurance 
strengthens,  grows,  till  it  becomes  more  certain 
than  any  fact  in  history,  than  any  truth  in  phi- 
losophy, than  any  law  of  nature,  as  certain  as 
ourselves,  that  it  is  an  indestructible  life  ;  that, 
whether  long  or  short,  God  has  it,  holds  it,  keeps 
it,  and  that  it  can  no  more  die  than  God  himself 
can  die. 

Then  it  is  no  longer  hard,  but  easy,  to  believe 
in  the  declarations  of  the  Bible  and  the  testimony 
of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  testimony  of  Christ  is 


WALKING   WITH   GOD   TO-DAY.  135 

confirmed  in  us.  Then  our  human  existence 
here,  this  rapidly  flowing  current,  seems  not  like 
a  dark  river  of  death  rushing  out  and  exhausting 
itself  in  loss,  but  like  a  river  of  life,  coming  as 
from  under  the  throne  of  God,  deep  and  wide 
and  broad,  going  down  out  of  sight  for  a  little 
while  and  buried  in  the  earth,  but  appearing, 
rising  again  as  a  purified  stream,  and  flowing  on 
and  on  with  larger  scope  and  volume  upon  the 
other  side.  Then  do  the  apparent  inequities  and 
perplexities  and  strangenesses  of  human  life  seem 
more  clear,  and  in  the  midst  of  trial  and  loss  and 
sacrifice  we  will  cast  ourselves  upon  the  God 
within  us  and  wait  for  some  diviner  light,  some 
diviner  life  to  come.  To  some,  as  we  see  things, 
it  seems  to  come  too  soon.  And  we  can  ill  afford 
to  lose  them. 

We  can  think  of  such  a  one  this  morning,*  for 
he  did  help  us  ;  he  helped  us  very  much,  and  we 
would  have  kept  him  with  us  ;  but  in  the  prime 
of  his  manhood,  in  the  very  joy  and  flush  and 
vigor  of  his  work,  one  morning  he  was  not ;  he 
walked  with  God,  and  God  took  him,  and  God 
has  him.  He  had  him  here,  and  he  has  him 
there,  and  keeps  him  and  holds  him  there  ;  for  it 
would  put  us  to  permanent  moral  and  intellectual 

*  Preached  the  Sunday  after  the  death  of  Phillips  Brooks. 


136  WALKING   WITPI   GOD   TO-DAY. 

confusion  to  believe  that  sncli  a  life  can  go  out. 
God  keeps  him  there  in  the  fullness  of  his  death- 
less personality,  and  as  a  quickening  and  living 
influence  he  also  keeps  him  here  to  help  us,  while 
we  linger  behind,  to  walk  on  earth  with  God 


THE  MORAL  CONFLICT ;   AND  ITS 
SIGNIFICANCE. 

There  was  war  in  heaven. — Rev.  xii.  7. 

These  words,  as  I  understand  tbem,  do  not  re- 
fer to  the  future — their  reference  is  to  the  pres- 
ent. The  war  of  which  they  speak  is  a  war 
liere  and  now,  and  the  heaven  of  which  they 
speak  is  a  heaven  here  and  now.  For  what  is 
heaven  in  the  Bible  use  of  the  term  ?  Not  pri- 
marily a  place,  but  a  state  or  condition  of  being  ; 
or,  if  it  be  a  place,  it  is  a  place  where  God  is  sup- 
posed to  live  and  dwell,  and  God  may  live  in  us 
here  and  does  live  in  us  here.  He  lives  in  us 
here  and  now,  however,  not  fully  and  continu- 
ously, as  we  hope  he  will  hereafter,  but  partially 
and  imperfectly,  with  fitful  gleams  and  flashes. 
His  life  in  us  now  is  associated  with  struggle ;  it 
involves  effort  and  fight.  There  is  war  in  it,  and 
yet  just  so  far  as  his  life  is  in  us  it  is  heaven,  and 
the  declaration  of  the  text  I  take  to  mean  that 
the  effort  or  fight  which  we  make  here  and  now 
to  keep  and  assert  the  life  of  God  within  us,  or 
to  keep  and  assert  it  in  the  world  at  large,  is 

137 


138  THE   MOEAL   CONFLICT. 

lieaven's  fight,  God's  fight,  God's  war.     Let  us 
make  that  thought  our  theme. 

And  first  let  us  note  the  fact,  commonplace 
enough,  that  all  the  moral  and  spiritual  progress, 
and  all  the  mental  progress,  which  men  have 
reached  in  this  world,  they  have  reached  through 
warfare,  and  that  conflict  always  has  been  and  is 
now  the  condition,  the  inexorable  condition  of 
growth.  Man,  I  suppose,  might  have  been  made 
to  grow  in  wisdom  and  in  goodness  without  con- 
flict, or  he  might  have  been  made  in  these 
respects  full-grown  at  the  outset — wholly  wise 
and  wholly  good,  and  we  wonder  sometimes  why 
he  was  not,  but  he  was  not,  and  he  has  had  to 
struggle  and  to  fight  every  inch  of  his  way. 
Browning,  you  remember,  describes  his  status 
thus  : 

Lower  than  God  who  knows  all  and  can  all ; 

Higher  than  beasts  which  know  and  can  so  far 

As  each  beast's  limit,  perfect  to  an  end, 

Nor  conscious  that  they  know,  nor  craving  more  ; 

While  man  knows  partly  but  conceives  besides, 

Creeps  ever  on  from  fancy  to  the  fact. 

And  in  this  striving,  this  converting  air, 

Into  a  solid  he  may  grasp  and  use, 

Finds  progress,  man's  distinctive  mark  alone — 

Not  God's,  not  the  beasts' ;  he  is  ,  they  are. 

Man  partly  is,  and  wholly,  hopes  to  be. 

That  is  not  only  fine  poetry,  it  is  hard  fact,  as 


THE  MOIIAL   CONFLICT.  139 

you  and  I  have  found  out,  and  however  else  or 
otherwise  we  might  have  been  made  and  placed, 
we  have  been  in  reality  so  made  and  placed  and 
circumstanced  in  this  world  that  conflict  is  the 
condition,  the  inexorable  condition,  of  growth. 

But  why  engage  in  the  conflict?  why,  when  it 
is  so  hard,  should  we  make  this  efilort  to  grow  in 
moral  and  spiritual  stature,  to  make  ourselves 
good  and  better,  to  make  others  good  and  better, 
to  make  the  world  and  ourselves  stronger,  purer, 
wiser,  freer  from  the  moral  entanglements  and 
the  moral  enslavements  of  sin  ?  Why,  I  say, 
when  it  is  so  hard,  should  we  make  the  effort  to 
grow,  and  without  abatement  keep  on  making 
the  effort  ?  If  we  could  only  reach  that  desirable 
consummation,  that  fullness  of  moral  stature,  by 
making  a  little  effort  and  doing  a  little  work  and 
giving  a  little  thought  and  time  and  attention  to 
it,  by  a  word  or  a  wish  or  a  resolve  ;  then  I  pre- 
sume we  would  all  be  ready  enough  to  attempt 
it.  But  the  effort  it  requires  is  hard,  and  the 
work  it  imposes  is  hard,  and  the  task  it  pre- 
scribes is  long  and  slow  and  militant — a  struggle, 
a  fight,  a  conflict ;  and  this  continuous  con- 
flict, this  perpetual  fighting  to  make  ourselves 
good  and  better,  and  to  make  others  good  and 
better,  becomes  wearisome  and  we  get  tired  of  it ; 


140  THE   MORAL   CONFLICT. 

and  why  should  not  you  and  I  just  make  up  our 
mind  to  accept  the  world  as  it  is  and  to  accept 
ourselves  as  we  are  ?  We  are  j^retty  good,  fairly 
good,  respectably  good ;  we  might  be  worse ; 
and  the  world  after  all  is  not  so  bad ;  it  too 
mi§lit  be  worse,  and  this  continuous  struggling, 
striving,  fighting — why  should  we  not  stoj")  it  ? 

Well,  I  will  tell  you  why,  and  why,  when  we 
once  vividly  realize  what  it  is  and  what  it  sig- 
nifies, we  do  not  want  to  stop  it.  It  is  God's 
fight ;  and  by  that  I  do  not  mean  that  it  is  the 
fight  that  God  has  commanded  us  to  fight  and  in 
that  sense  his  fight — no,  not  that.  Neither  do  I 
mean  that  in  some  providential  way  or  ways,  by 
various  providential  methods  or  means,  he  is 
fighting  for  us,  fighting  on  our  side,  and  in  this 
manner  helping  us — no,  not  that,  though  that 
too  may  be  true.  What  I  mean  is  this,  that  God 
is  fighting  in  us,  not  for  us  merely,  but  in  us ; 
that  every  moral  progress  which  we  make  in  this 
world  is  God's  progress  ;  that  every  moral  vic- 
tory which  we  win  in  this  world  is  God's  vic- 
tory ;  that  when,  for  instance,  for  some  immedi- 
ate advantage  and  gain,  or  for  some  momentary 
relief  or  easement  in  an  embarrassing  situation, 
we  are  tempted  to  tell  a  lie,  or  to  act  a  lie,  as 
you  and  I  are  tempted  every  day,  we  yet  resist 


THE   MORAL   CONFLICT.  141 

the  temptation  and  do  not  lie,  it  is  the  God  in 
ns  that  does  not  lie — it  is  God's  victory  in  ns. 
When  we  are  tempted  to  say  a  harsh  and  sting- 
ing word,  to  utter  some  unkind  and  uncharitable 
speech,  with  a  little  bit  of  venom  and  spiteful- 
ness  in  it,  in  regard  to  some  neighbor  or  friend, 
we  resist  the  temptation  and  do  not  do  it, 
it  is  the  God  in  us  that  does  not  do  it — it  is 
God's  victory  in  us. 

So  throughout  the  whole  range  of  moral 
action,  work,  behavior,  character,  conduct,  the 
holding  of  our  tongues,  the  keeping  of  our  tem- 
pers, the  curbing  of  our  passions — patience, 
purity,  courage,  self-denial,  self-restraint — bear- 
ing with  patience  and  fortitude  the  burdens  we 
have  to  bear,  performing  with  diligence  and 
rectitude  the  duties  we  have  to  perform,  it  is 
something  more  than  patience,  courage,  purity, 
duty  attempted  and  done — the  name  for  it  all  is 
God,  the  life,  the  glory,  the  victory,  the  manifes- 
tation of  God. 

In  the  heaven  ux3  there  or  out  yonder,  or 
somewhere  in  the  universe,  in  which  you  and  I 
hope  some  day  to  dwell,  God  is  revealed  fully — 
knows  all,  can  all.  There  is  no  moral  growth, 
no  moral  progress  in  him.  But  here  he  is  being 
revealed  and  being  revealed  through  us,  and  the 


142  THE   MORAL   COT^FLICT. 

moral  growth  and  progress  which  we  make  in 
this  world,  and  the  moral  and  sjiiritual  stature 
which  is  reached  by  us  in  this  world,  is  the 
moral  and  spiritual  stature  which  is  reached  by 
God  in  this  world. 

Is  not  that  what  the  doctrine  of  the  incar- 
nation teaches  or  ought  to  teach,  not  simply 
that  in  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
God,  but  that  in  flesli  and  hlood  is  God  ;  in  him 
fully,  without  moral  limit,  without  moral  ob- 
scuration, and  yet  in  us  too,  in  flesh  and  blood, 
in  all  flesh  and  blood — that  that  indeed  is  the 
treasure  which  these  bodies  hold — God,  which 
day  after  day  we  may  look  and  search  for  and 
dig  and  delve  and  toil  for,  and  in  these  bodies 
find. 

N'ow  as  long  as  we  do  not  know  that  that  is 
the  treasure  which  these  bodies  hold,  that  that  is 
what  the  moral  life  which  we  have  Avithin  us 
means,  that  that  is  what  it  is,  we  are  like  a  man 
who  possesses  but  possesses  ignorantly  a  valu- 
able piece  of  land.  There  is  gold  in  it  but  he 
does  not  know  that  there  is  gold  in  it,  or  does 
not  know  gold  when  he  sees  it.  He  knows  it 
when  he  sees  it  refined  and  purified  and  assayed 
and  separated  from  the  baser  metals  with  which 
it  is  associated,  but  he  does  not  know  it  in  the 


THE   MORAL   CONFLICT.  143 

quartz  or  in  the  sand,  and  he  thinks  that  what  is 
really  gold  is  simply  muddy  rock  or  yellow  dust 
and  dirt ;  and  why  should  he  spend  his  time 
and  strength  in  digging  up  this  yellow  dirt  and 
dust  ?  But  an  expert  comes  and  tells  him  that 
that  yellow  dirt  is  gold,  of  the  finest  sort  and 
quality,  that  the  land  he  owns  is  full  of  it,  that 
it  is  a  treasure-mine  and  that  he  may  be  very 
rich.  Then  how  he  goes  to  work,  and  with 
what  zeal  and  industry  and  patient  endurance  he 
works !  And  the  labor  which  was  so  hard  and 
difficult  before,  if  not  indeed  so  useless,  engages 
all  his  energy  now  and  becomes  a  labor  of  love. 

So,  my  friends,  do  we  go  on  from  day  to  day 
with  feeble,  scattering  purpose,  with  halting, 
broken  aim,  digging,  delving,  toiling  away  at 
the  moral  life  within  us  ;  but  it  is  a  long  and 
hard  task,  and  we  get  tired  and  discouraged,  and 
seem  so  often  to  accomplish  nothing,  and  it 
hardly  seems  worth  while.  But  Jesus  Christ 
comes  and  shows  us  what  it  is — that  moral  life 
within  us ;  shows  us  what  it  means  ;  that  that 
moral  life  which  we  have  within  us  is  God — the 
God  who  made  and  governs  the  worlds ;  that 
that  is  the  treasure,  greatest,  richest,  sacredest, 
treasure,  of  the  universe,  God,  which  these 
bodies  hold.    At  present  it  is  mingled  with  other 


144  THE   MOEAL   CONFLICT. 

properties  there,  with  baser  tilings  and  qual- 
ities, as  the  gold  is  mingled  with  the  dirt  or 
embedded  in  the  qnartz.  And  yet  the  treasure 
is  there,  and  in  everything  we  do,  in  every  word 
we  utter,  in  every  emotion  or  passion  that  sways 
the  soul,  in  all  speech,  action,  work,  behavior, 
we  may,  if  we  try,  find  it ;  and  seeing  and 
knowing  what  it  is  we  are  encouraged  to  try. 

The  task  is  still  hard,  and  we  have  to  struggle 
and  fight,  and  so  often  to  fight  alone  with  no  one 
else  to  see,  in  our  little  secret  obscurities,  in  our 
little  secret  dwelling-places,  with  no  one  else  to 
know  how  hard  it  is,  no  one  else  to  help  and 
cheer  us  on  and  apx)laud  us.  Yet  we  see  now 
and  know  what  that  treasure  is  which  we  are 
fighting  for  ;  and  the  evil  desire  ungranted  and 
the  evil  word  unspoken  and  the  self-indulgence 
restrained  and  the  passionate  speech  suppressed 
and  the  lust  of  the  flesh  denied,  the  cause  good 
and  right,  that  seems  so  hopeless,  helped — it  is 
God ;  it  is  the  gold,  men  and  Avomen,  sejmrated 
from,  purified,  refined,  coming  out  of  the  dirt,  or 
out  of  the  hard  and  rocky  quartz,  and  making  us 
very  rich.  That  is  the  treasure  which  we  have 
within  us.  Let  us  see  and  call  it  that.  Then  we 
shall  know  what  our  conduct  means,  and  what 
our  conduct  is.     Then  we  ishall  know  what  it  is 


THE   MOEAL   CONFLICT.  145 

we  are  doing  or  what  we  are  failing  to  do ; 
that  when  we  give  expression  to  the  moral  life 
within  us  we  are  giving  expression  to  the  God 
within  us ;  that  when  we  reveal  and  body 
forth  that  moral  life  in  our  flesh  and  blood,  that 
when  in  doubt  and  darkness  and  perplexity  we 
yet  believe  and  trust  in  and  cast  ourselves  uj)on 
that  moral  life  within  us,  we  are  believing  and 
trusting  in  and  casting  ourselves  on  God  ;  that 
when  we  disregard  it,  and  are  careless  and 
heedless  about  it,  when  we  think  it  of  little 
worth,  when  we  neglect  it  and  throw  it  away, 
we  are  thinking  God  of  little  worth,  we  are 
throwing  away  the  greatest  treasure  which  this 
universe  can  give  us,  and  has  given  us — we  are 
throwing  God  away. 

Yes,  let  us  so  understand  it.  That  effort  we 
make  to  have  the  moral  life  appear  is  the  effort 
we  make  to  have  God,  the  King  in  his  beauty, 
appear  in  our  flesh  and  blood,  or  rather  it  is  God 
in  us,  fighting  to  make  himself  appear. 

And  now,  for  two  or  three  minutes,  let  us 
look  at  the  subject  in  a  somewhat  different  light. 
We  have  looked  at  it  chiefly  so  far  with  reference 
to  ourselves  ;  let  us  look  at  it  now  with  reference 
to  the  world  at  large.  For  not  only  in  us  Chris- 
tian people  here  this  morning  is  God's  war  going 


146  THE  MOEAL   COT^FLICT. 

on,  but  everywhere,  all  over  the  world,  God's  war 
is  going  on.  For  everywhere,  all  over  the  world, 
we  see  the  moral  life,  not  very  much,  it  may  be, 
not  very  strong  in  some,  and  yet  we  see  it  in  all, 
no  matter  how  degraded,  sunken,  fallen,  low, 
some  moral  life  we  see,  and  we  see  it  fighting  in 
all.  For  there  is  no  man,  however  bad,  who  does 
not  try  sometimes  to  be  good  and  to  do  right. 
And  that  moral  life  which  we  everywhere  see  is 
God's  life,  and  that  moral  fight  which  is  every- 
where going  on  is  God's  fight.  Everywhere,  all 
over  the  earth,  God's  war  is  going  on. 

Then  when  you  and  I  engage  in  that  war  and 
conflict,  what  is  it  that  we  do  ?  We  are  not 
simply  responding  to  the  appeal  of  man — we  are 
responding  rather  to  the  appeal  of  God  in  man. 
The  man  perhaps  does  not  make  any  ajopeal, 
does  not  ask  our  assistance,  does  not  want  our 
assistance,  does  not  send  a  message  to  ns  and 
say  in  so  many  words,  Come  over  here  and  help 
me ;  but  God  is  saying  in  the  man,  Come  and 
help  me.  And  the  less  the  man  himself  appeals, 
the  more  does  God  in  the  man  appeal  and  ask 
our  help.  We  seem  to  hear  his  voice  speaking 
to  us  and  saying.  The  passions  of  this  man  are 
so  fierce  and  strong,  his  ignorances  and  his  weak- 
nesses are   so  many  and  great,  that  I  am  shut 


THE  MORAL   CONFLICT.  147 

Tip  as  in  a  prison,  and  cannot  get  out  and  appear 
and  take  possession  of  liim  ;  come  help  me  to 
open  wide  and  break  in  sunder  these  prison 
doors,  and  be  no  longer  enslaved  but  to  become 
victorious  in  him. 

To  try  to  help  those  who  are  trying  to  help 
themselves — that  is  not  only  an  easy  but  a  wel- 
come and  pleasant  task.  We  love  to  help  those 
who  are  trying  to  help  themselves.  But  ah, 
that  poor  creature  in  whom  God  is  so  fast 
imprisoned,  that  vagabond,  that  tramp,  that 
fraud,  that  unworthy  fellow,  in  whom  the  moral 
resolutions  are  so  weak  and  the  animal  passions 
so  strong,  whether  we  find  him  at  some  Rescue 
Mission — a  poor  forlorn  creature  who  wanders 
shivering  in  out  of  the  cold  to  get  a  little  warmth 
and  cheer  and  see  what  he  can  work  us  for,  or 
whether  we  find  him  as  a  cruel  savage  among 
the  red  men  of  Western  America,  or  the  black 
men  of  Central  Africa,  that  is  the  man  whom 
you  and  I  are  to  help.  Yes,  that  is  the  man  we 
must  help,  and  just  because  the  moral  life  is  so 
weak  so  feeble  in  him,  and  we  seem  to  hear  the 
voice  of  Grod  in  the  man,  saying  with  strong  and 
urgent  appeal,  I  am  so  fast  imprisoned  heie  that 
I  cannot  get  out ;  come  and  help  me.  It  is  the 
Gfod  in  him  appealing  to  the  God  in  us. 


148  THE   MORAL   CONFLICT. 

But  tlien  I  know  what  you  will  say — I  have 
heard  men  say  it  a  hundred  times  :  After  all  it  is 
such  discouraging  work,  it  is  such  a  dishearten- 
ing task.  We  do  try  to  make  such  jDersons 
better,  and  for  a  little  while  we  seem  to  accom- 
plish something,  we  seem  to  touch  or  kindle  some 
little  spark  or  flame  of  the  moral  life  within 
them,  but  it  goes  out  and  does  not  stay  kindled, 
and  they  are  sober  and  true  and  honest  and  i3ure 
for  twenty-four  hours  ;  then  they  fall  back  and 
go  astray  again.  It  is  not  always  so,  although 
very  often  it  is,  but  what  then  ?  why,  for  twenty- 
four  hours  God  has  won  a  victory  in  this  world. 
Isn't  that  something?  Isn't  it  much?  And 
who  knows  what  inspirations  those  twenty-four 
hours  have  produced,  that  may  linger  on  and  on 
and  echo  in  that  soul,  and  at  last  perhaps  reclaim 
and  bring  it  back  again. 

Cannot  you  remember,  some  of  you  older  men 
and  women,  what  a  thrill  of  exultation  went 
through  your  hearts  when  the  news  came  from 
the  seat  of  war  in  Virginia  or  Tennessee  that  a 
victory  had  been  won.  You  knew  and  the 
soldiers  knew  that  the  war  was  not  over,  but  it 
was  a  victory  if  only  for  a  day,  if  only  for 
twenty-four  hours,  and  then  the  soldiers  went  at 
it  again  and  fought  for  another  victory. 


THE  MORAL   CONFLICT.  149 

So  in  that  moral  life,  that  moral  fight 
which  is  going  on  in  the  world — here  in  New 
York  City  and  there  in  distant  China,  in 
darkest,  remotest  Central  Africa,  it  is  some- 
thing, it  is  much,  if  only  for  a  day,  for 
twenty-four  hours,  God  wins  a  victory ;  and 
then  we  will  go  at  it  again  and  fight  for 
another  victory. 

And  we  will  not  be  discouraged  if  sometimes 
we  are  defeated,  for  it  is  God  fighting  in  us— the 
God  in  us  helping  the  God  in  them  to  fight.  It 
is  God's  fight,  it  is  God's  war,  and  God  will  win 
in  the  end.  As  St.  John  from  his  vision- place 
looked  down  upon  this  earth,  at  the  righteous- 
ness which  was  there,  at  the  goodness  whidi  was 
there,  at  the  moral  life,  the  life  of  God,  which 
was  there,  he  saw  that  in  that  heaven  there  was 
war  and  would  be  war.  But  he  also  saw  as  in  a  vi- 
sion that  that  war  would  end  in  peace  and  victory. 
And  he  heard  a  loud  voice  in  heaven  saying, 
"Now  is  come  salvation  and  strength  and  the 
kingdom  of  our  God  and  the  power  of  his  Christ. 
Rejoice,  O  heavens,  and  ye  that  dwell  therein." 
Who  of  us  can  tell  what  that  heaven  will  be, 
where  there  is  no  war,  that  ultimate  triumph  and 
issue  of  the  moral  life  within  us  ?  but,  surely, 
men  and  women,  something  very  wonderful  and 


150  THE   MORAL   CONFLICT. 

very  great  it  must  be.  Let  us  cast  ourselves  now 
on  this  moral  life  that  is  fighting  and  struggling 
in  us,  let  us  cast  ourselves  on  the  God  in  us  ; 
then  some  day  we  shall  know  what  that  heaven  is 
in  which  there  is  no  war. 


BUILDING  THE  TEMPLE  OF  GOD. 

Now  I  liave  prepared  with  all  my  miglitfor  the  house  of  God  the 
gold  for  tilings  to  be  made  of  gold,  and  the  silver  for  things  of  silver, 
and  the  brass  for  things  of  brass,  the  iron  for  things  of  iron,  and 
wood  for  things  of  wood  ;  onyx  stones,  and  stones  to  be  set,  glisten- 
ing stones,  and  of  divers  colors,  and  all  manner  of  precious  stones, 
and  marble  stones  in  abundance. — 1  Chronicles  xxix.  2. 

These  words  were  spoken  by  David  tlie  King, 
and  refer  to  the  building  of  tlie  temple,  a  struc- 
ture whose  completion  he  would  not  live  to  see, 
and  yet  he  knew  that  it  ought  to,  and  would  in 
time  be  built— God  in  some  way  had  assured  him 
of  it.  In  the  light  of  that  knowledge  there- 
fore, that  assured  and  confident  hope,  he  devoted 
himself  to  accumulating  the  material  which  the 
building  of  the  temple  would  need,  which  would 
in  some  way  enter  into  its  process  of  erection — the 
gold  for  the  things  to  be  made  of  gold,  the  silver 
for  the  things  to  be  made  of  silver,  the  marble 
for  the  things  to  be  made  of  marble,  the  wood, 
the  iron,  the  stone  for  the  various  things  and 
uses  to  be  made  of  them.  That,  he  felt,  was  his 
work  in  the  world  and  the  task  he  had  to  per- 
form, and  to  that  task  he  addressed  himself  with 
a  very  commendable  zeal.     But  was  it  only  his  ; 

151 


152  BUILDING   THE  TEMPLE   OF   GOD. 

is  it  not  also  ours  ?  I  am  very  strongly  of  the 
opinion  that  something  like  it  is  ;  and  because  I 
think  so  I  will  ask  you  this  morning  to  think 
about  it. 

First,  let  us  consider  what  that  temple  stood 
for,  or  what  it  was  to  stand  for  and  what  it  was 
meant  to  be.  In  an  architectural  sense  it  was 
meant  to  be,  and  when  finished  it  was,  a  very 
imposing  structure,  and  perhajDS  no  architectural 
pile,  or  at  least  no  sacred  pile,  erected  since,  has 
surpassed  it,  unless  it  be  the  one  which  when  this 
was  destroyed  was  built  in  its  place.  And  none  in 
all  probability  will  ever  be  erected — no  mosque, 
no  basilica,  no  cathedral,  not  even  the  cathedral 
of  St.  John  the  Divine — of  more  imposing  char- 
acter, of  more  beautiful  and  attractive  appear- 
ance. And  standing  on  some  neighboring 
height,  as  the  Mount  of  Olives,  for  instance, 
when  the  sun  arose  and  cast  his  chrism  of  glory 
over  it — its  spacious  courts  and  corridors,  its 
broad  expanse  of  roof,  covered  with  burnished 
pikes,  it  looked,  as  one  enthusiastic  writer  has 
described  it,  like  "a  mountain  of  snow  fretted 
with  golden  pinnacles,"  or  as  illuminated  with 
tongues  of  fire.  It  certainly  was  architecturally 
a  very  magnificent  structure,  of  which  the 
patriotic  Jew  might  well  indeed  be  proud. 


BUILDING   THE  TEMPLE   OF   GOD.  153 

And  yet  it  was  not  this,  its  physical  beauty 
and  splendor,  that  made  it  so  dear  to  his  heart. 
That  temple  was  to  him  and  to  all  the  Jewish 
people  the  dwelling-place  of  God — of  the  God 
who  had  been  with  them  when  they  were  in  the 
desert ;  who  had  brought  them  forth  from  Egypt 
and  led  them  at  last  in  safety  into  the  promised 
land  ;  the  God  who  had  fought  their  battles,  and 
won  their  victories  for  them,  and  who  had  been 
from  the  very  beginning  in  all  their  history. 
This  was  to  be  his  dwelling-place,  his  palace  on 
the  earth,  his  seat,  his  throne,  from  which  he 
would  give  his  orders  and  issue  his  decrees,  and 
mold  and  shape  the  national  life  and  try  to 
make  it  more  and  more  the  embodiment  of 
himself. 

This  was  what  that  temple  meant  and  signified 
to  David  and  to  all  the  Jewish  people.  And 
they  who  helped  to  build  it  were  not  helping 
merely  to  put  ui^  in  their  midst  a  vast  monu- 
mental pile,  whose  noble  and  admirable  form 
would  appeal  so  effectively  and  so  pleasingly  to 
their  civic  and  national  pride — they  felt  that 
they  were  helping  to  build  on  earth  a  home  for 
God,  and  that  all  tlie  offerings  which  they  made 
were  offerings  made  to  God. 

And  what  those  people  in  that  old  time  tried 


154  BUILDING   TJIE   TEMPLE   OF   GOD. 

to  do  in  their  way,  you  and  I  and  all  of  us 
should  try  to  do  in  ours.  Their  task  should  still 
be  ours,  their  ambition  ours,  and  the  purpose 
that  touched  and  quickened  their  hearts  and  set 
their  souls  on  fire,  should  also  touch  and  quicken 
us  and  set  our  hearts  ablaze.  And  that  temple 
which  we  are  building  or  trying  to  build — what 
is  it?  Not  primarily  an  ecclesiastical  or  a 
religious  structure  in  the  technical  sense  of  the 
term,  as  it  was  in  the  case  of  the  Jews  ;  our 
task  is  not  simply  to  cover  the  land  and  the 
face  of  the  earth  with  chapels  and  churches 
and  cathedrals, — that  of  course  is  important, 
— but  the  task  we  have  to  do  is  something  far 
greater  than  that.  We  are  not  merely  to  build 
houses  of  worship  for  God.  We  are  to  build 
factories,  and  warehouses,  and  produce  ex- 
changes, and  railroads,  and  shops,  and  banks, 
for  God.  Or  rather  we  are  to  see  and  feel  that 
these  and  the  activities  which  they  represent, 
our  industrial  works  and  employments  in  con- 
nection with  them,  our  social  and  professional 
engagements,  our  buying  and  selling  of  goods, 
our  practicing  of  medicine,  our  arguing  of  cases 
in  court,  our  going  out  to  j)arties  and  balls  and 
evening  receptions,  our  meeting  together  in  club- 
houses— to  see  and  to  feel  that  the  whole  of  our 


BUILDING   THE   TEMPLE   OF   GOD.  155 

complex  and  growing  civilization,  our  diver- 
sified social  life  with  all  its  varied  equipment,  is 
not  our  temple  merely — to  contribute  to  our 
comfort  and  to  minister  to  our  iDride  :  but  some- 
thing very  much  more.  We  should  recognize 
the  fact  that  our  manifold  civilization  is  chietiy 
the  temple  of  God — that  the  purpose  of  God 
is  in  it,  that  the  purpose  of  God  pervades  it, 
that  it  is  indeed  or  ought  to  be  the  growing 
temi)le  of  God,  and  that  it  is  our  task  or  ought 
to  be,  to  try  to  make  it  such  and  to  contribute, 
each  in  his  way,  some  needed  material  for  it — 
the  gold  for  the  things  to  be  made  of  gold,  the 
silver  for  the  things  of  silver,  the  marble,  the 
wood,  the  iron,  and  the  stone  for  the  things  to  be 
made  of  them.  But  what  does  that  mean  ?  you 
ask,  and  in  simpler  and  plainer  speech  what  are 
these  things  of  wood  and  iron  and  stone  and 
silver  and  gold  which  we  are  to  contribute  to 
this  great  tem^ole  of  God  ?     Let  us  see. 

Here  we  are  this  morning,  representing  differ- 
ent kinds  of  employments,  different  trades  and 
professions,  and  w^e  are  j)laced  in  different 
spheres.  Some  of  us  are  in  professional  life — 
students,  artists,  physicians,  lawyers,  and  clergy- 
men. Some  of  us,  on  the  other  hand,  are  in  com- 
mercial life — bankers,    brokers,    manufacturers, 


156  BXJILDIlSrG   THE   TEMPLE   OF   GOD, 

and  merchants.  Noav  in  connection  with  all 
these  different  forms  of  activity  there  are  dif- 
ferent duties  to  be  done,  and  different  obstacles 
to  be  met,  and  therefore,  in  and  through  them 
all,  different  kinds  of  temptation  to  encounter. 
Theoretically  and  in  the  abstract  these  temp- 
tations may  be  the  same,  but  j)ractically  and 
in  the  concrete  they  are  not  the  same.  They 
move  along  different  lines,  they  approach  us 
from  different  quarters,  they  charge  and  assault 
us  at  different  points  of  attack.  They  do  not 
come  to  me  in  the  same  manner  precisely  in 
which  they  come  to  you,  or  to  put  it  the  other 
way,  they  do  not  come  to  you  in  the  same 
manner  in  which  they  come  to  me.  But  they  do 
come  to  both  of  us.  Yours  may  be  of  the  finer, 
mine  of  the  baser  sort ;  yours  i)erhaps  of  the 
spirit,  mine  perhaps  of  the  flesh,  and  the  moral 
exhibit  made  by  you  in  overcoming  yours,  and 
the  moral  exhibit  made  by  me  in  overcoming 
mine,  may  be  as  gold  and  silver  to  wood  and  iron 
and  stone. 

So  too  with  the  responsibilities  that  come  to  us. 
Those  which  are  met  and  carried  by  you  are 
not  the  same  as  those  which  are  met  and  carried 
by  me.  Yours  may  be  far  greater  and  of  much 
more  importance  than  mine ;  and  the  greatness 


BUILDING   THE   TEMPLE   OF   GOD.  157 

and  the  value  of  yours  with  reference  to  the 
value  of  mine  may  be  as  the  value  of  gold  to 
the  value  of  wood  and  stone.  And  yet,  what- 
ever their  value,  and  however  they  present  them- 
selves, they  come  to  all  of  us.  In  our  different 
ways  and  places  you  and  I  have  to  meet  them 
and  bear  them,  and  to  work  them  out  and  dis- 
charge them.  And  not  by  doing  w^hat  others  are 
doing  or  what  they  have  to  do,  but  by  doing 
what  we  have  to  do — that  is  the  thing — by 
doing  what  we  have  to  do,  and  by  doing  it  faith- 
fully and  well,  or  trying  so  to  do  it,  we  con- 
tribute something — not  much,  it  may  be,  but 
something — not  as  of  gold  and  silver,  but  as  of 
wood  and  iron  and  stone,  toward  that  great 
temple  of  God  which  is  going  up  on  the  earth, 
toward  making  this  world  his  house,  his  home, 
the  palace  in  which  he  dwells. 

And  not  only  is  it  our  varied  personal  influ- 
ence, of  different  temptations  conquered,  and 
different  duties  done,  and  different  responsi- 
bilities discharged — not  only  is  it  our  varied 
personal  influence  which  we  contribute  to  the 
temple  of  God,  although  in  the  task  of  making 
this  world  his  dwelling-place  that  is  a  most  help- 
ful contribution,  but  there  is  something  more. 
These  different  places  and  spheres  yield  different 


158  BUILDING   THE  TEMPLE   OF   GOD. 

material  results  of  different  worths  and  values, 
as  of  gold  and  silver  and  wood  and  iron  and 
stone.  And  yet,  whatever  their  worths,  they  are 
not  chiefly  ours,  but  first  and  chiefly  God's. 
And  never,  I  am  convinced — not  only  because 
Jesus  Christ  has  said  so,  but  because  experience 
has  proved  it  so — will  we  hold  them  right,  will 
we  use  them  right,  and  never  will  we  fully  enjoy 
them  until  we  learn  to  hold  and  use  them,  not 
as  treasures  chiefly  which  we  have  gathered  for 
ourselves,  but  as  the  material  which  God  has 
variously  distributed  and  apportioned  out  and 
placed  in  our  possession,  that  we  may  make 
contribution  of  it  in  some  appropriate  way,  in 
some  needed  way,  toward  the  building  up  more 
and  more  of  his  temple  on  the  earth. 

That,  it  seems  to  me,  is  what  you  and  I  are 
here  for.  That  is  why  we  are  placed  in  differ- 
ent stations  and  spheres,  with  different  duties 
and  opportunities  and  temptations  and  responsi- 
bilities ;  that  each  of  us  may  contribute  some 
kind  of  material,  yet  all  of  it  needed,  the  wood 
as  well  as  the  gold,  toward  that  great  temple 
of  God,  toward  making  human  life  on  earth, 
and  all  human  life  on  earth,  the  dwelling-place 
of  God. 

We  ask  ourselves    sometimes — who    has  not 


BUILDING   THE   TEMPLE   OF   GOD.  li)9 

asked  himself  ? — as  we  look  into  the  deep  myste- 
ries of  the  skies,  Are  the  other  worlds  inhabited  ? 
Those  suns  and  ]3lanets  innumerable  that  across 
the  plains  of  heaven,  "  we  know  not  whence,  we 
know  not  whither,  in  long,  continuous  procession 
stray" — are  they  too  jpeopled  with  intelligent 
beings  ?  Possibly  they  are  ;  it  has  always  seemed 
to  me  that  probably  they  are,  and  that  those 
who  inhabit  them  are  not  living  without  God, 
but  in  subjection  to  him — that  there  in  the 
heavens  about  us  the  temple  of  God  is  com- 
plete. But  here  is  a  world,  which  in  its  moral 
and  spiritual  life,  its  aims,  its  purposes,  its 
practical  everyday  ambitions,  seems  to  have 
wandered  away  from  God,  and  is  not  yet  his 
dwelling-place,  as  it  ought  to  be,  and  as  perhaps 
the  worlds  about  us  are.  Does  it  mean  this, 
does  it  have  any  reference  to  this,  when  our  Lord 
is  spoken  of  as  the  shepherd  leaving  the  ninety- 
and-nine  and  going  to  seek  the  one  that  is  lost 
and  gone  astray  ?  Is  there  a  reference  here  to 
our  world  in  its  relation  to  the  other  worlds  ? 

But  whether  or  not  it  be  true  that  this  is  the 
only  one  of  all  the  worlds  about  us  where  the 
temple  of  God  is  not  yet  completely  built,  cer- 
tainly we  cannot  be  wrong  in  thinking  that  if 
God  has  a  x)urpose  about  this  world  at  all,  it  is 


160  BUILDING   THE   TEMPLE   OF   GOD. 

to  make  it  liis  dwelling- jDlace,  and  tliat  it  is  our 
joy  and  should  also  be  our  task  to  help  to  make 
it  such.  That,  it  seems  to  me,  is  what  you  and 
I  are  here  for.  That,  it  seems  to  me,  should  be 
our  life  in  this  world.  And  what  largeness 
does  it  give  to  our  conception  of  life,  our  trade, 
our  business,  our  calling,  our  profession,  what- 
ever it  may  be,  to  look  at  it  in  this  manner  ;  and 
how  little,  how  petty,  how  narrow  does  it 
become — the  biggest  work  and  the  biggest  busi- 
ness— if  we  do  not  so  regard  it ! 

We  try  to  make  it  bigger  by  spreading  it  out 
more,  with  more  to  do  and  manage  and  attend  to 
and  look  after  and  think  about,  with  more 
activities  and  things  in  it,  but  alas !  we  only 
succeed  so  often  in  making  it,  not  bigger  and 
larger,  but  only  more  wearisome  and  fussy.  The 
difference  between  one  person  and  another  in  a 
little  business  or  a  big  business  seems  to  me 
oftentimes  to  be  just  this :  that  while  one  of 
them  does  a  few  little  things  the  other  does  a 
good  many  little  things.  One  of  them  writes 
three  letters  a  day  and  the  other  writes  thirty, 
but  after  all  it  is  only  letter- writing.  One  of 
them  goes  to  two  committee-meetings  and  the 
other  goes  to  eight,  but  yet  after  all  it  is  only 
a  committee-meeting.     One  woman  goes  to  five 


BUILDING  THE   TEMPLE   OP   GOD.  161 

afternoon  recei^tions  and  another  rushes  breath- 
lessly and  hurriedly  about  and  tries  to  go  to 
fifteen,  and  yet  it  is  only  an  afternoon  reception, 
pleasurable  enough,  enjoyable  enough,  yet  not 
in  itself  the  biggest  and  sublimest  kind  of  occu- 
pation. 

But  ah,  my  friends,  put  God  into  it ;  try  to 
feel  that  the  work  you  are  doing  in  the  world — 
the  letter-writing  and  the  comnnttee-meeting 
and  the  visiting  and  the  receiving — is  the  work 
which  God  himself  has  given  you  to  do.  Then 
everything  is  big  and  sublime — the  letter-writing 
and  the  committee-meeting  and  the  social  visit- 
ing ;  and  you  have  the  consciousness  that  you 
are  contributing  some  needed  material  to  that 
great  temple  of  God  which  is  going  up  in  this 
world,  that  you  are  helping  him  to  build  it. 

It  gives  a  greater  enlargement  to  life  :  it  also 
gives  it  a  greater  value.  Don't  we  often  have 
the  feeling,  the  sad  and  depressing  feeling,  that 
in  spite  of  all  our  efforts  to  make  ourselves  of 
some  kind  of  importance  we  are  after  all  but  of 
little  worth  and  value  to  the  world,  and  that  it 
would  go  on  just  as  well  without  us  ?  And  so 
from  the  world's  point  of  view  it 'would,  and  if 
we  are  living  only  for  what  the  world  can  do  for 
us  or  what  it  will  think  about  us  or  what  it  is 


162  BUILDING   THE  TEMPLE   OF   GOD. 

thinking  about  us  now,  we  are  flattering  our- 
selves with  a  vain  and  delusive  hope.  For  the 
world  is  far  too  busy  to-day  to  think  very  much 
about  us,  and  will  be  hereafter  too  busy  to  think 
very  long  about  us.  And  the  people  will  hurry 
down-town  in  the  morning  and  back  again  in  the 
evening  and  the  streets  will  be  noisy  and  crowded 
just  the  same  as  now — how  strange  it  seems ! — 
and  someone  else  will  be  in  our  place  and  we  will 
have  vanished  and  gone. 

No,  no.  No  one  else  can  take  our  place  now 
or  hereafter.  In  the  thought  of  the  world,  in 
the  business  of  the  world,  yes — but  not  in  the 
business  of  God.  Commissioned  by  him,  sent  by 
him  to  do  some  special  work  which  no  one  else 
can  do,  to  contribute  some  special  thing  which  no 
one  else  can  contribute,  yet  all  of  it  needed — the 
wood,  the  iron,  the  stone,  as  the  silver  and  the 
gold,  we  are  building  the  temple  of  God,  and 
helping  more  and  more  to  make  the  earth  his 
home. 

Enlargement,  value,  and  unity  will  it  give  to 
human  life,  to  all  our  rent  and  torn  and  divided 
human  life,  when  each  man  learns  to  take  it 
and  receive  it  and  live  it  as  from  God.  Some 
will  work  in  one  way  and  some  will  work  in 
another,  some  as  in  wood  and  iron  and  stone, 


BUILDING   THE   TEMPLE   OF   GOD.  163 

and  some  as  in  silver  and  gold.  But  tliey  will  not 
be  jealous  of  one  another  or  figlit  and  strike  and 
pull  down  and  interfere  with  one  another.  Hand 
in  hand  and  together  they  will  fly  toward  the  east 
and  gather  the  spoil  of  the  west,  for  they  will 
all  be  workers,  each  in  his  place,  for  God,  as  sent 
and  commissioned  by  him  to  try  to  build  his 
temple  up  and  make  this  world  his  dwelling- 
place.  Not  in  our  time  will  that  temple  be  built 
completely,  but  it  will  be  built  some  day,  and  we 
can  help  to  build  it.  And  not  only  so,  but  if 
the  angels  in  heaven  can  somehow  see  and  rejoice 
over  penitent  sinners  here,  may  not  we  perhaps 
somewhere  in  the  universe,  we  know  not  where, 
but  somewhere,  see  the  structure  finished  which 
we  have  helped  to  build,  and  mingle  our  voices 
with  the  shoutings  of  those  who  cry,  Grace, 
grace  unto  it,  when  the  headstone  shall  be 
brought  forth  at  last  and  the  world  in  which  we 
are  living  now  shall  have  become  the  temple 
of  God  I 


PREFERRING  OUR  OWN  WAY  TO  GOD'S. 

And  AbraJmm  said  unto  God,  0  that  Ishmael  might  live  before 
thee  ! — Geistesis  xvii.  18, 

Somehow,  we  know  not  how  nor  is  it  very 
important  to  know,  the  Lord  appeared  unto 
Abraham,  and  said  that  he  would  make  him  the 
father  of  many  nations.  That  was  both  a  wel- 
come and  a  credible  announcement,  for  it  is 
always  pleasant  to  be  told,  nor  is  it  so  hard  to 
believe,  that  one's  posterity  may  become  distin- 
guished and  great.  But  there  was  another  part 
of  the  announcement  which  was  not  so  welcome 
nor  so  credible,  and  that  was  the  declaration 
that  the  numerous  descendants  promised  him 
would  not  come  from  Ishmael,  who  was  then  his 
only  child  and  quite  a  well-grown  lad,  but 
through  another  son  who  was  not  then  born. 
That  was  the  part  of  the  announcement  which 
he  could  not  receive  and  credit,  or  not  for  a 
while  at  least,  and  as  the  story  tells  us,  he  fell 
on  his  face  and  laughed  an  incredulous  langh 
and  said  in  his  heart.  Shall  a  child  be  born  unto 
him  who  is  one  hundred  years  old  ?    And  Abra- 

164 


PREFEREING   OUR   OWN   WAY   TO   GOD'S.      165 

ham  said  unto  God,  O  that  Ishmael  miglit  live 
before  tliee,  and  tliat  lie,  the  son  I  have,  might 
be  indeed  my  heir,  and  that  through  him  thy 
word,  thy  promise  might  be  fulfilled  !  Here  we 
have  our  subject — the  disx^osition  of  the  human 
heart,  now  as  then  and  always,  not  to  ignore  God 
altogether,  but  to  try  to  substitute  for  the  way 
of  God  some  other  way  of  its  own,  which,  if  not 
better,  seems  at  least  more  practical  and  more 
easy. 

Let  us  look  at  that  for  a  little  while.  First 
let  us  look  at  it  in  connection  with  religion. 
We  sometimes  hear  it  said  and  sometimes  per- 
haps say  it  ourselves,  that  there  is  a  great  reli- 
gious indifference  to-day,  that  a  great  many 
people  are  not  interested  in  religion,  that  they 
do  not  care  about  it,  and  do  not  very  much 
or  very  often  think  about  it.  That,  in  my 
judgment,  is  a  great  mistake.  People  do  think 
about  religion,  they  cannot  help  thinking  about 
it,  they  cannot  keep  it  out  of  their  thoughts,  and 
as  life  goes  on  and  experience  deepens  and 
ramifies,  they  ask  religious  questions  concern- 
ing themselves  and  others — their  friends,  their 
neighbors,  their  children,  those  they  have  loved 
and  lost.  Where  are  they?  Where  have  they 
gone  ?    What  has  become  of  them  ?    Why  were 


166     PREFEERING   OUR   OWN   WAY   TO   GOD's. 

they  taken  away?  Will  we  ever  see  them  again, 
and  when,  and  how,  and  under  what  conditions? 

People  ask  these  questions,  and  these  are 
religious  questions. 

Or  looking  out  on  the  world  and  lifting  up 
their  eyes  to  the  starry  heavens  above  them,  or 
turning  in  their  gaze  and  seeing  and  feeling  the 
majesty  of  the  moral  law  within  them,  they  find 
themselves  asking  questions  concerning  God  as 
the  Author  of  the  starry  heavens  above  and  the 
Source  of  the  moral  law  within — who  he  is,  what 
he  is  ;  if  you  please,  whether  he  is  at  all.  Such 
questions  people  do  ask  and  must  ask,  and  these 
are  religious  questions.  So  that  if  peo^^le  think 
at  all,  they  must  think  about  religion,  they  must 
at  times  move  in  thought  along  religious  lines. 
No ;  people  are  not  uninterested  in  religion  to- 
day— it  is  the  one  great  theme  above  all  others  in 
which  they  are  interested,  as  they  always  have 
been  in  the  past  and  will  be  in  the  future.  It  is 
not  so  much  a  tendency  toward  religious  indif- 
ference which  we  see  upon  the  part  of  people  at 
present — religion  as  a  permanent  factor  in  the 
thought  of  the  world  will  always  take  care  of 
itself — but  a  tendency  rather  to  substitute  for 
the  way  of  Grod  in  religion  some  other  lower, 
cheaper,  easier  way  of  their  own. 


PEEFERRING   OUR   OWN   WAY   TO   GOD's.     167 

The  thing,  for  instance,  at  which  religion 
chiefly  aims  is  conduct,  not  toward  the  forming 
of  creed,  but  toward  the  forming  of  character ; 
not  toward  the  j)utting  of  thoughts  and  theories 
into  the  mind,  but  toward  the  putting  of  j^urities 
and  charities  into  the  heart,  and  cleanness  into 
the  speech,  and  nobleness  into  the  purjiose,  and 
self-denial  and  truthfulness  and  virtue  and  holi- 
ness into  the  soul,  and  righteousness  into  the 
life.  That  is  the  thing  at  which  religion  aims, 
or  at  which  chiefly  the  Christian  religion  aims. 

But  that  is  hard  and  the  other  thing  is  not 
hard,  or  is  not  at  least  as  hard.  It  is  not  nearly 
as  hard  to  be  orthodox  as  it  is  to  be  good.  It 
is  not  nearly  as  hard  to  fight  for  a  theory  as 
it  is  to  embody  a  principle.  It  is  not  as  hard 
to  hold  a  right  and  true  opinion  as  it  is  to 
be  true  and  to  do  right.  And  therefore  we  try 
to  take  the  way  that  is  not  so  hard,  and  in  that 
manner  to  satisfy  the  religious  instinct  in  us. 
And  instead  of  offering  up  and  presenting  our- 
selves unto  God,  we  offer  our  creeds  to  God,  our 
orthodoxy,  our  churchmanship,  our  soundness 
in  the  faith.  We  offer  our  creeds  to  God  as  a 
substitute  for  ourselves.  That  is  so  often  our 
way  of  trying  to  become  religious — our  easy, 
cheap,  more  appealing  way,  our  Ishmael,  which 


168     PEEFERKING   OUR   OWN   WAY   TO   GOD's. 

we  try  to  substitute  for  the  harder  way  of  God, 
and  like  Abraham,  as  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  says, 
quoting  the  words  of  the  text,  we  seem  to  say 
in  our  hearts,  Oh,  see  our  churchmanship,  our 
orthodoxy,  our  zeal  for  the  faith — let  Ishmael 
live  before  Thee ! 

That  is  the  tendency  we  see  and  which  in  our 
hearts  we  feel ;  not  a  tendency  tovt^ard  religious 
indifference, — people  are  not  indifferent  to  relig- 
ion, they  cannot  be, — but  a  tendency  rather  to 
substitute  creed  for  character,  theory  for  prac- 
tice, dogma  and  doctrine  for  conduct  and  life, 
and  for  that  hard  way  of  God  in  religion  to  put 
this  easier  and  more  api^ealing  way  of  their  own. 

There  are  other  manifestations  of  this  tend- 
ency in  connection  with  religion.  Religion,  for 
instance,  is  a  personal  thing ;  it  spealvs  to  you 
and  to  me  with  a  Thou-art-the-man  directness, 
and  its  voice  is  heard  in  Jesus  Christ,  saying. 
Take  up  thy  cross,  and  come  thou  and  follow  me. 
We  recognize  the  reasonableness  and  the  noble- 
ness and  the  rightness  of  that  command,  and  yet 
how  we  try  to  evade  it,  we  men  particularly. 
We  say  that  religion  is  good,  that  Christianity  is 
good,  that  we  ought  to  support  and  encourage  it 
and  try  to  establish  and  maintain  on  the  earth 
the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ.     Therefore — what  % 


PREFERRING    OUR   OWN   WAY    TO    GOD's.      1G9 

We  will  ourselves  become  members  of  that 
kingdom  ?  We  will  ourselves  try  to  obey  and 
follow  Jesus  Christ  ?  No,  no.  But  we  will  take 
a  pew  in  Church,  where  the  service  is  attractive 
and  the  music  good,  and  we  will  go  there,  or  we 
will  at  least  make  provision  to  have  our  families 
go.  We  will  send  our  children  to  Sunday  school, 
and  when  they  are  old  enough  and  sufficiently 
instructed  we  shall  be  pleased  to  have  them  pre- 
sented for  confirmation,  and,  as  we  call  it,  to 
become  members  of  the  Church.  That  is  our 
cheaper,  easier  way  of  paying  our  tribute  to 
Jesus  Christ ;  that  is  our  vicarious  way  of  honor- 
ing Jesus  Christ ;  that  is  our  way  of  saying.  Let 
Ishmael  live  before  thee  ! 

But,  my  friends,  that  is  not  what  God  re- 
quires, that  is  not  the  thing  he  demands  ;  not 
simply  that  we  should  try  to  make  our  children 
follow  Jesus  Christ — that  of  course,  but  some- 
thing else  and  more  ;  that  we  ourselves  should 
follow  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  not  a  vicarious  alle- 
giance that  he  wants,  but  a  personal  allegi- 
ance, a  personal  obedience,  a  personal  disciple- 
ship,  and  nothing  that  we  offer  in  the  way  of 
tribute  to  him,  no,  not  even  the  offering  of  Jesus 
Christ  dying  for  our  sins  on  the  Cross,  can  take 
the  place  of  that. 


170     PEEFERRING   OUR   OWN   WAY   TO   GOD's. 

Let  US  go  on  and  look  at  the  subject  for  a 
few  moments,  not  in  connection  with  religion 
only,  but  in  some  of  its  ot'her  aspects.  God  is 
teaching  and  training  human  life  to-day  not  by 
means  of  religion  only,  in  the  technical  sense  of 
the  term,  but  by  a  process  which,  for  want  of  a 
more  convenient  and  better  word,  we  may  call 
a  spiritual  process.  By  this  I  mean  that  he  is 
creating  good  desires  and  good  resolves  within 
as,  awakening  aspirations  toward  something  bet- 
ter and  more  than  what  at  present  we  are ; 
giving  us  heavenly  visions,  putting  ideals  before 
us,  which  we  feel  to  be  so  admirable,  and  which, 
if  we  only  could,  we  would  like  so  much  to  obey, 
and  in  accordance  with  which,  if  we  only  could, 
we  would  like  so  much  to  live.  Surely  we  ought 
to  know  what  that  means. 

There  is  no  man,  I  think,  however  low  and 
clownish,  who  does  not  have  at  times  some  bright 
ideals  in  life,  which  more  or  less  inspire  him, 
and  which  if  he  only  could  he  would  be  so  glad 
to  reach.  And  why  is  it — not  that  he  does  not 
reach  them — but  that  so  often  he  does  not  try  ? 
Because  he  knows  that  he  is  weak  and  wayward 
and  capricious  and  full  of  strong  passions  which 
he  cannot  control,  and  which  so  often  lead  him 
astray  ?     Yes,  sometimes  it  is  that,  but  some- 


PEEFEEEING   OUE   OWN"   WAY   TO   GOD's.     171 

times  there  is  another  reason.  Althougli  he 
believes  that  his  ideal  is  good  and  true,  and  that 
he  ought  to  try  to  reach  it,  he  also  believes  that 
situated  and  circumstanced  as  he  is  in  this  world 
it  is  not  practical  to  try.  It  is  good,  but  it  will 
not  go ;  it  is  true,  but  it  will  not  work  ;  it  is 
right,  but  it  cannot  be  done  ;  and  when  despite 
all  this  you  urge  him  still  to  try  he  does  not 
heed  you  much,  and  like  Abraham,  perhaps  he 
laughs  an  incredulous  laugh  and  says  in  his 
heart.  What  an  unpractical  man  you  are  ! 

Ah,  my  friends,  it  is  the  way  of  all  of  us,  too 
much,  I  fear,  too  much.  We  have  our  lofty 
principles,  our  high  and  generous  aims, — life 
would  not  be  worth  anything  without  them, — 
and  we  love  to  think  about  them  and  dream 
about  them  and  dwell  upon  them,  and  to  say  to 
ourselves,  how  good,  how  admirable  they  are ! 
and  that  if  we  could,  we  would  like  so  much  to 
practice  them.  And  ];)erhaps  in  the  shelter  and 
seclusion  of  our  own  home  we  do  practice  them 
a  little  and  then,  then,  oh,  God  forgive  us,  we  go 
out  among  men  and  into  the  midst  of  affairs 
and  we  temj)orize  and  compromise  and  sacrifice. 
The  high  ideals  are  laid  aside,  principle  becomes 
expediency,  and  a  worldly  policy  our  guide. 
And  so  again  we  substitute  this  easy,  cheaper, 


172     PREFEERING   OUR   OWN   WAY   TO   GOD'S. 

lower — or  as  we  love  to  call  it,  tins  practical — 
way  of  our  own  for  the  harder  way  of  God. 

Yes,  it  is  the  harder  way  ;  and  it  is  apt  to 
become  still  harder  as  we  get  older,  and  as  the 
years  increase  the  ideals  melt  away ;  and  we 
often  come  to  regard  them  as  sentimental  dreams  ; 
and  we  laugh  when  we  think  that  once,  when  we 
did  not  know  what  life  is,  when  we  did  not  know 
what  the  world  is,  what  business  is,  what  society 
is,  we  used  to  dream  those  dreams.  But  now  we 
know,  we  are  practical  men,  and  we  dream  them 
no  more. 

In  one  of  the  popular  tales  of  Servia  there  is 
a  story  told  of  a  young  man  who  came  to  the 
goddess  Fate  and  asked  what  was  the  right  and 
noble  way  to  live,  for  he  wanted  to  live  that  way, 
he  wanted  an  ideal  in  life. 

"I  will  tell  thee,"  said  the  goddess  ;  "go  and 
find  and  adopt  some  life  that  is  weaker  and 
poorer  than  thine,  and  live  henceforth  for  it, 
and  all  thou  makest  give  to  it  and  call  it  not 
thine  own  ;  then  shalt  thou  be  truly  rich." 

And  the  young  man  did  as  the  goddess  said, 
and  his  wealth  increased  and  he  prospered,  but  he 
had  his  ideal  through  it  all  and  he  was  a  happy 
man.  But  at  last  one  day  he  was  tired  of 
this,  and  like  Abraham   he   laughed  when  he 


rREFEREII^G   OUR   OWN   WAY    TO   GOD's.      173 

thoiiglit  of  what  the  goddess  had  said  and  of  how 
foolish  he  had  been,  and  tlien  he  said  to  himself, 
"  Why,  all  these  treasures  are  mine,  for  I  indeed 
have  earned  them.  Fields  and  flocks  and  houses, 
they  all  belong  to  me ;  henceforth  I  will  keep 
them  and  use  them  for  myself."  He  prospered 
and  became  successful  and  then  he  lost  his  ideal, 
and  became  a  practical  man,  which  so  often 
means  a  hard,  covetous,  worldly-minded  man. 

I  wonder  if  that  is  not  the  story  of  some  of  us. 
We  had  high  aims  at  first  in  life.  Can  we  not 
remember  them,  and  how  we  used  to  dream  of 
the  many  good  things  we  would  do,  the  benevo- 
lent, the  philanthropic  and  humanitarian  work  ; 
and  if  money  came  and  we  prospered  we 
would  use  that  money  for  others,  or  a  good  deal 
of  it  at  least  ?  We  would  not  simply  enrich 
ourselves,  but  would  try  to  enrich  the  world  and 
make  it  better  and  gladder.  We  thought  of  the 
good  we  would  do  and  we  did  it — for  a  while, 
and  we  were  true  to  our  aims.  But  after  a  while 
as  we  prospered  and  made  money  and  became 
successful,  our  high  ideals  and  aims  seemed  to 
go  away,  and  we  came  to  regard  them  as  senti- 
mental and  doctrinaire  and  foolish,  and  we  laugh 
now  as  we  think  how  foolish  we  used  to  be, 
and  like  the  young  man  in  the  fable  we  have 


174     PREFERRING   OUR   OWN   WAY   TO   GOD's. 

learned  to  take  a  different  view  of  our  money, 
a  closer,  more  worldly  view,  or,  as  we  love 
to  flatter  our  hearts  by  saying,  a  more  practical 
view.  And  again  for  that  hard  way  of  God  we 
substitute  this  cheap  and  more  appealing  way 
of  our  own,  and  the  early  generous  impulse 
becomes  a  covetous  passion. 

Yes,  it  is  hard  to  keep  tlie  high  ideals  before 
us,  and  to  walk  in  the  way  of  God.  It  is  the 
danger,  subtle  and  strong,  which  confronts  our 
spiritual  life  and  which  we  have  to  fight.  The 
tendency  to  substitute  for  the  way  of  God  the 
easy  way  of  our  own ;  that  is  our  subject.  It 
needs  a  word  more  to  make  it  complete. 

We  have  seen  God's  way  of  training  the  world 
by  a  religious  process  ;  we  have  seen  his  way  of 
training  the  world  by  a  spiritual  process  ;  he  also 
trains  the  world  by  a  providential  process,  and 
neither  is  that  way  ours.  We  ask  for  strength 
and  he  sends  us  weakness  ;  we  ask  for  health — 
for  health  to  be  able  to  do  our  work — and  he 
sends  us  sickness  ;  we  set  our  heart  on  some  dear 
thing  that  we  want  to  do,  on  some  dear  life  that 
we  want  to  keep,  and  he  takes  it  away.  In 
many  a  home  this  morning,  as  you  and  I  sit  here, 
a  cloud  is  gathering,  and  a  fear,  a  horrible 
fear,  is  coming,  and  a  strong  and  earnest  cry 


PREFERRING   OUR   OWN   WAY   TO   GOD's.      175 

is  going  up  and  saying,  Oh,  my  God,  do  not  take 
him  away,  let  liim  live,  let  him  live  before  thee 
and  before  me  !  And  God  does  not  seem  to  hear 
or  seem  to  heed  that  cry.  Oh,  no,  my  friends, 
it  cannot  be  that,  it  cannot  be  that ;  that  indeed 
would  be  too  hard  to  bear.  I  believe  it  to  be 
this,  on  every  hand  I  learn  it,  from  every  side 
I  see  it :  we  have  one  way,  God  has  another  way, 
and  God's  way  is  not  onrs.  In  a  Avay  of  his  own 
he  is  training  us  and  leading  us  on  and  on  to 
something  better  and  more  than  we  could  find 
for  ourselves.  Though  he  defeats  our  purposes 
he  does  not  defeat  us  ;  and  all  our  hopes  and 
dreams,  and  all  the  bright  ideals  toward  which 
we  now  aspire  will  be  at  last  in  his  way  and  not 
in  ours  fulfilled. 


THE  TRUE  VISION  AND   THE 
FALSE  SEER. 

I  shall  see  Mm,  but  not  now  :  I  shall  behold  him,  but  not  nigh: 
there  shall  come  a  Star  out  of  Jacob,  and  a  Sceptre  shall  rise  out  oj 
Israel,  and  shall  smite  the  corners  of  Moab,  and  destroy  all  the  chil- 
dren of  Sheth. — NtTMBEKS  xsiv.  17. 

These  words  were  spoken  by  the  prox)het 
Balaam.  It  will  perhaps  enable  ns  to  under- 
stand them  better  if  we  try  to  recall  briefly  the 
circumstances  of  their  utterance.  With  that 
faith  in  the  power  of  incantation  which  is  a 
characteristic  of  semi-barbarous  j)eople,  Balak 
the  king  of  Moab  had  asked  the  jDrophet  to  come 
and  curse  the  children  of  Israel,  that  so,  he  says, 
*'  I  may  prevail  against  them  and  drive  them  out 
of  the  land."  The  prophet,  however,  after  laying 
the  matter  before  the  Lord,  had  refused  to  obey 
tlie  summons  and  had  said  that  he  would  not  go. 
Whereupon  the  king  sent  another  deputation 
to  him,  saying,  "Let  nothing,  I  pray  thee,  hinder 
thee  from  coming, for  I  will  promote  thee  to  very 
great  honor  and  do  whatsoever  thou  dost  desire. 
Come,  therefore,  I  pray  thee,  and  curse  this 
people  for  me."     But  again  tha  prophet  refused 

176 


THE   TiiUE   VISION   AND   THE   FALSE   SEER.     177 

and  said  to  tlie  servants  of  the  king,  "  If  Balak 
would  give  me  his  house  full  of  silver  and  gold  I 
cannot  go  beyond  the  word  of  the  Lord."  And 
yet,  notwithstanding  this  very  noble  sentiment, 
and  despite  his  previous  refusals,  he  did  at 
last  go. 

The  story  of  the  Book  of  Numbers  does  not 
tell  us  in  so  many  words  that  he  was  induced  to 
go  by  the  tempting  offer  of  the  king's  bribe,  but 
in  the  New  Testament  references  to  the  story 
it  is  indicated  very  clearly  tliat  that  was  the 
reason.  At  all  events,  after  saying  so  stoutly 
that  he  ought  not  to  go  and  that  he  would 
not  go,  he  went,  and  was  conducted  by  the  king 
to  some  commanding  height  where  he  could 
see  all  the  people  of  Israel  spread  out  in  their 
prosperity  on  the  plains  below.  And  standing 
there,  as  the  poet  Keble  has  portrayed  him,  on 
the  top  of  the  rocks  of  Zophim,  his  wild  hair 
streaming  in  the  Eastern  breeze,  his  tranced  yet 
open  gaze  fixed  on  the  desert  haze. 

As  one  who  deep  in  heaven  some  airy  pageant  sees, 

he  utters  the  words  of  the  text,  and  looks  for- 
ward to  the  time,  not  in  his  day  but  later,  when 
"  a  Star  shall  come  out  of  Jacob  and  a  Sceptre 
shall  rise  out  of  Israel,  and  shall  smite  the 
corners  of  Moab  and  destroy  all  the  children  of 


178    TnE  TKUE   VISION   AND   THE   FALSE   SEER. 

Slietli."  The  prophecy  indeed  was  a  true  one, 
but  as  we  have  observed  the  man  himself  who 
uttered  it  was  not  a  true  man ;  and  this  suggests 
the  subject  to  which  I  ask  your  attention— the 
true  vision  and  the  false  seer  of  it. 

The  first  thing  I  wish  to  say  in  considering  the 
subject  is  this  :  that  God  gives  to  all  men  true 
and  helpful  visions,  which,  if  they  were  obedient 
thereto,  would  have  the  effect  in  a  measure  to 
ennoble  and  transfigure  their  lives.  I  say  he 
gives  them  to  all — not  only  to  us  in  Christendom 
but  to  those  outside  of  Christendom,  who  live 
in  what  is  called  the  heathen  or  pagan  world. 
Balaam  was  a  prophet  in  the  pagan  world ;  he 
did  not  live  in  Israel,  but  beyond  the  borders  of 
Israel,  and  yet  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  he 
dwelt  in  the  pagan  world  his  prophecy  was  a 
good  one  and  his  vision  right  and  true.  Have 
there  been  no  other  prophets  in  the  pagan  world, 
are  there  none  such  there  to-day,  to  whom  God 
has  given  some  vision  of  what  is  right,  some 
vision  of  what  is  good,  some  vision  of  himself  ? 
Are  all  the  religious  systems  and  practices  and 
beliefs  which  at  present  we  find  there,  the  work 
of  imposture  and  fraud,  the  embodiment  only  of 
evil,  and  wholly  corrupt  and  false  ?  Some  people 
seem  to  think  so,  and  if  what  they  think  be  true. 


THE  TRUE   VISION    AND   THE   FALSE   SEEK.    179 

it  is  not  only  one  of  the  saddest  trutlis  wliicli  tlie 
human  mind  can  bring  itself  to  contemplate,  but 
also  one  of  the  most  difficult  to  reconcile  with  omi 
faith  in  the  goodness  of  God.  Think  of  it :  that 
to  all  these  men  and  women,  the  great  majority  of 
the  human  race,  in  all  these  numerous  countries 
for  all  these  thousands  of  years,  God  has  sent  no 
message,  has  spoken  no  quickening  word,  has 
given  no  helpful  vision,  has  left  them  alone  and 
forsaken  them  as  though  he  cared  not  for  them  ; 
I  cannot  and  do  not  believe  it. 

I  believe,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  are  his 
children  too ;  that  he  has  been  mindful  of  them 
as  he  has  been  mindful  of  us  ;  that  he  has  sent  to 
them  a  vision  as  he  has  sent  to  us  a  vision  ;  that 
he  has  given  to  them  a  religion  as  he  has  given  to 
us  a  religion  ;  and  that  while  their  forms  of  relig- 
ion are  mingled  with  much  that  is  foolish,  false, 
idolatrous,  wrong,  there  is  also  much  that  is 
true,  and  good,  and  noble,  in  them.  To  that 
extent  they  have  been,  to  that  extent  they  are, 
the  word,  the  voice,  the  religion — yes,  the  relig- 
ion, of  God,  giving  some  true  knowledge  and 
some  true  vision  of  him.  Their  knowledge  of 
God  is  not  so  large  as  ours  nor  their  vision  of 
him  so  bright  ;  theirs  is  the  light  of  the  lamp, 
theirs  is  the  light  of  the  candle,  ours  is  the  light 


180    THE  TRUE   VISION   AND   THE   FALSE  SEER. 

of  the  sun — a  richer,  larger,  fuller,  more  abun- 
dant light. 

Yet  let  us  not  be  too  quick  to  boast,  let  us 
not  be  too  complacent.  And  this  brings  me  to 
the  next  thing  that  I  want  to  say  in  the  treat- 
ment of  the  subject,  that  while  the  vision  itself 
may  be  large  and  bright,  the  seers  of  it  may  be 
false ;  or  that  while  the  vision  itself  may  be 
little  and  poor,  the  seers  of  it  may  be  true.  Do 
you  want  an  illustration  of  this  ?  You  have  not 
far  to  go. 

I  refer  you  to  a  correspondence  that  has  re- 
cently been  going  on  between  two  great  nations, 
one  called  a  Pagan  and  the  other  a  Christian 
nation,  one  of  them  China  and  the  other  the 
United  States.  Read  that  correspondence,  and 
except  for  the  proper  names  employed,  you 
would  surely  receive  the  impression  that  China 
was  the  Christian  country  and  the  United  States 
the  Pagan.  In  the  one  case,  the  case  of  China, 
you  would  see  an  a^Dpeal  to  conscience,  the 
honor  of  i)lighted  faith,  the  sanction  of  sacred 
treaty.  In  the  other  case,  the  case  of  the  United 
States,  you  would  see  not  only  an  utter  disre- 
gard and  setting  aside  of  treaty,  but  the  follow- 
ing of  it  up  with  a  law  so  barbarous,  so  inliuman, 
that  it  should  bring  the  blush  to  the  cheek  of 


THE  TRUE   VISION   AND   THE   FALSE   SEER.     181 

Avneiicaii  manhood   and    make   it   tingle  with 
shame. 

Look  at  the  two  countries,  China  and  the 
United  States,  and  these  two  things  you  ob- 
serve :  first,  looking  at  China,  a  little  knowledge 
of  right,  a  little  vision  of  God,  and  the  seers  of 
the  vision  true  :  second,  looking  at  the  United 
States,  a  larger  knowledge  of  right,  a  larger 
vision  of  God,  and  the  seers  of  the  vision  false. 

With  what  kind  of  consistency,  with  what 
kind  of  sincerity  or  hopefulness  of  good  re- 
sult, can  we  go  to  the  people  of  China  or  any 
other  land,  to  give  them  in  their  twilight  our 
more  abundant  light,  our  brighter  and  better 
vision,  when  we  ourselves  are  false  to  the  vision 
which  we  see  ? 

But  you  may  tell  me  that  that  is  the  way 
of  political  life,  and  what  in  political  life  we 
must  always  expect  to  find.  Possibly  so  ;  per- 
haps it  is  too  much  to  expect  the  average  politi- 
cian to  be  true  to  the  heavenly  vision.  Then  let 
us  leave  political  life  and  look  at  some  other  life. 

Sometime  ago  a  stockbroking  case  was  brought 
before  the  highest  Court  of  England  for  settle- 
ment. A  member  of  the  Stock  Exchange  was 
put  upon  the  witness  stand  and  examined.  In 
the  course  of  his  examination  he  declared  that 


182    THE  TRUE   VISION   AND   THE   FALSE   SEER. 

it  was  considered  to  be  quite  a  legitimate  prin- 
ciple in  business  for  a  person  who  holds  a 
worthless  stock  and  know^s  it  to  be  worthless,  to 
sell  it  out  to  someone  else,  if  he  can,  who  does 
not  know  it  be  worthless.  The  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  England,  in  commenting  on  the  testi- 
mony, made  this  terse  remark,  that  if  what  the 
witness  said  was  true,  then  the  Stock  Exchange 
of  England  had  apparently  failed  to  master  the 
simplest  elementary  principles  of  common  hon- 
esty. But  it  may  not  have  been  true, — I  hope  it 
was  not, — and  what  the  witness  said  may  not  have 
fairly  reflected  the  ordinary  methods  of  proceed- 
ing in  practical  business  affairs.  I  am  not  an 
expert  in  such  matters,  and  you  know  better 
than  I.  But  w^liat  I  do  say  is  this,  that  not 
only  in  your  world,  but  in  mine,  and  in  the  world 
of  all  of  us  to-day,  there  are  apt  to  be  two  morali- 
ties, two  standards  of  moral  obedience,  one  for 
use  in  private,  the  other  for  use  in  public ;  one 
for  use  at  home,  the  other  for  use  on  the  street ; 
one  for  use  in  the  personal  or  in  the  domestic 
life,  the  other  for  use  in  the  professional  or  in 
the  business  life.  What  I  do  say  is  this,  that 
the  high  ideal  principle  in  which  at  heart  we 
believe  is  apt  to  be  compromised  a  little  and 
brought  down  to  what  we   call  practical  expe- 


THE   TRUE   VISION   AND   THE  FALSE   SEER.     183 

diency.  For  you,  for  me,  for  all  of  us,  it  is 
hard  to  be  true  to  our  visions,  our  bright  ideal 
visions,  and,  which  although  we  practice  and 
embody  them  so  little,  we  value  and  esteem 
so  much.  We  all  have  those  visions,  God  sends 
tliem  at  times  to  all  of  us,  none  of  us  are  with- 
out tliem,  and  how  fair  they  are  ;  how  good,  how 
beautiful  do  they  appear  ! 

Standing  like  the  prophet  Balaam  upon  some 
mountain-top,  a  glorious  outlook  comes,  a  heav- 
enly vision  dawns,  a  sceptre  of  power  appears 
nobler  and  better  than  the  power  which  at 
present  we  try  to  exert.  Or  in  our  vast  horizon 
field  some  star  of  dominion  rises — a  dominion 
larger  and  more  and  brighter  than  silver  and  gold, 
a  moral  and  spiritual  dominion,  a  moral  and 
spiritual  ambition  ;  and  as  we  look,  we  dream  of 
all  the  good  things  which  we  hope  some  day  to 
do — yes,  some  day,  but  not  to-day  ;  we  shall  do 
them,  but  not  now  ;  we  shall  behold  them,  but  not 
nigh.  For  alas,  as  we  stand  on  our  mountain- 
top  dreaming  of  the  good  things  which  we  hope 
to  do,  the  world  is  standing  with  us  as  Balak 
stood  with  Balaam,  or  the  voices  and  the  bribes 
of  the  world  are  sounding  in  our  heart — its 
promises  of  very  great  honor,  its  offers  of  silver 
and  gold.     And  the  good  things  of  which  we 


184    THE  TRUE  VISION^   AND   THE   FALSE   SEEE. 

dream  and  which  we  hope  to  do,  we  shall  do 
them,  but  not  now  ;  we  shall  behold  them,  but 
not  nigh  ;  and  the  glorious  outlook  vanishes  and 
the  heavenly  vision  fades,  and  coming  down 
from  our  mountain-top  and  mingling  with  the 
world,  the  dreams  of  the  good  things  pass  and 
go  and  the  dreams  of  avarice  stay. 

Ah,  men  and  women,  you  who  are  hoping 
to  do  some  good  things  in  the  future,  now 
is  the  time  to  do  them,  now  while  you  have 
the  liberty,  now  while  you  have  the  wish, 
now  while  you  see  and  know  what  the  vision  is  ; 
now  is  the  time  to  be  true  to  it  and  the  time  to 
obey  the  vision !  For  the  vision  when  it  comes 
again,  if  it  does  come,  may  not  be  so  bright, 
and  the  wish  to  obey  may  not  be  so  strong. 
A  good  impulse  resisted  is  always  in  a  measure 
weakened,  and  the  voice  with  which  it  speaks, 
unheeded  becomes  unlieard,  and  like  an  echo 
fainter  and  fainter  grows,  till  in  the  distance 
it  dies  away.  How  often  has  it  happened  that 
a  man  in  his  earlier  life,  before  his  moral  vision 
became  blurred  and  broken,  has  thought  of  some 
noble  work  which  he  would  like  so  much  to 
perform,  of  some  beneficent  cause  which  he 
would  like  so  much  to  help,  to  which  indeed  he 
would  like  to  give  his  influence,    his  time,  his 


THE   TRUE   VISION   AND   THE   FALSE   SEER.     185 

money,  himself.  And  he  says  to  hiniself,  I  will 
give  it,  or  he  says  to  himself,  I  will  do  it,  but 
not  now — some  day  in  the  future  I  will  do  it, 
and  hereafter  I  will  give  it.  And  he  is  always 
never  quite  ready,  and  the  hereafter  is  always 
hereafter,  and  the  vision  goes  and  the  impulse 
goes,  and  the  man  goes,  and  the  money — 
which  when  he  had  it  was  the  promise  and  the 
potency  of  so  many  useful  beneficences — goes, 
and  in  spite  of  all  his  careful  testamentary 
planning  and  codiciling,  he  can  never  be  quite 
sure  how  and  where  it  goes. 

Whatever  the  many  good  things  that  may  be 
said  of  such  a  person  Avhen  he  is  gone,  the  com- 
prehensive epitaph  that  best  describes  his  life 
and  what  it  was  on  earth,  seems  to  me  to  be 
this  :  A  true  vision,  and  a  disobedient  seer  of  it. 

So  it  was  with  Balaam  ;  so  it  has  been  with 
many  another  man. 

But  let  us  go  to  the  story  for  another  lesson. 
First,  when  the  message  came  from  the  king  he 
would  not  and  did  not  go  ;  and  the  second  time 
when  the  message  came,  he  w^ould  not  and  did 
not  go.  But  it  is  very  evident  that  in  the  mean- 
while he  has  been  thinking  about  it  a  good  deal, 
and  the  protest  with  which  he  declines  the  second 
time  is  altogether  too  vigorous,  is  altogether  too 


186    THE   TRUE   VISION   AND   THE   FALSE   SEER. 

strong.  "  If  Balak  would  give  nie  liis  liouse  full 
of  silver  and  gold  I  cannot  and  would  not  go." 
The  prophet  protests  too  much,  the  vehemence 
of  his  protest  indicates  a  weakening  in  his  moral 
purpose.  It  is  the  language  of  one  who  is  begin- 
ning to  be  dazzled  by,  and  to  yield  to  tempta- 
tion. And  we  would  know  now,  even  if  we  did 
not  have  the  rest  of  the  story  to  tell  us,  that 
the  bargain  in  his  soul  has  been  already  closed, 
that  Balak' s  gold  has  bought  him,  and  that  he 
would  go — as  he  did. 

Does  it  not  have  a  parallel  in  human  life  to- 
day ?  A  man  has  a  vision  of  right,  the  noblest 
rigli  t  and  the  best.  The  spirit  of  God  has  touclied 
and  quickened  and  illumined  his  heart,  and  he 
takes  his  stand  on  principle,  on  high  and  honor- 
able principle,  and  whatever  may  be  the  conse- 
quence, whatever  may  be  the  loss,  he  will  main- 
tain that  stand.  Then  some  day,  some  crucial 
day,  some  critical  day  in  his  life  the  great  temj)- 
tation  comes  to  him,  as  it  comes  to  every  man, 
and  like  Balak  to  Balaam  it  seems  to  say,  "I 
will  promote  thee  to  very  great  honor,  I  will 
give  thee  thy  heart's  desire,  if  thou  wilt  do  this 
thing."  "  No,  I  will  not  listen  to  it,  I  will  not 
listen,"  he  says  ;  and  yet  he  does  listen,  just 
listen — that  is  all — but  still  he  is  very  firm— at 


THE   TRUE   VISION   AND   THE   FALSE   SEEK.     187 

least  he  imagines  he  is,  and  he  says  in  his  lirm- 
ness,  "No,  I  cannot  iDossibly  do  it;  if  Bahik  or 
anyone  else  would  give  me  his  house  full  of 
silver  and  gold  I  could  not  think  of  doing  it  for 
a  moment.  Could  IT'  He  is  weakening  a  little. 
"There  can  be  no  harm,  however,  in  just  thinking 
about  it ;  just  thinking  about  it,  and  of  all  the 
good  things  that  would  come  to  me,  if  I  were 
willing  to  do  it,  as  of  course  I  am  not  willing"  ; 
and  he  goes  on  just  thinking  about  it.  He  is 
beginning  to  yield  a  little.  And  the  rest  of  his 
story,  is  it  not  told  in  the  Book  of  Numbers  and 
in  that  24th  chapter  thereof,  from  which  I  have 
taken  my  text  ?  And  the  lesson  of  the  story  is 
this,  when  we  see  what  is  good,  what  is  right,  let 
us  do  it  at  once ;  when  we  see  clearly  what  is 
wrong,  what  is  bad,  let  us  not  think  about  it. 

And  one  lesson  more.  We  have  our  bright 
ideal  visions,  not  only  of  life  in  this  world  but 
of  life  in  some  other  world — the  world  where 
there  is  no  strife,  no  sin,  no  sorrow,  no  death. 
We  have  these  bright  and  beautiful  visions,  and 
we  enjoy  them.  We  love  to  hear  them  preached 
about,  and  we  love  to  sing  about  them — of  the 
"  Green  Hill  far  away,"  "the  Beautiful  Home 
beyond,"  of  the  "Land  of  pure  delight  where 
saints    immortal    reign,"    of    the    "Sweet   and 


188    THE   TRUE   VISION   ATSTD   THE   FALSE   SEER. 

blessed  Country,  the  home  of  God's  elect,  the 
Sweet  and  blessed  Country,  that  eager  hearts 
expect." 

Yes,  we  have  these  dreams,  these  visions,  and 
we  enjoy  them  ;  and  as  they  come  and  float 
before  and  touch  and  quicken  our  hearts  and 
stir  and  move  our  souls,  and  we  think  of  that 
lieavenly  world  and  wonder  what  it  will  be,  like 
Balaam  we  say  or  sigh,  "Let  me  die  the  death 
of  the  righteous,  let  my  last  end  be  like  his." 

Ah,  if  we  would  die  the  death  of  the  righteous 
v.'^e  must  live  the  life  of  the  righteous.  We  go 
into  another  as  we  go  through  this,  and  the  oflBce 
of  religion  is  not  simply  to  teach  us  how  to  enjoy 
the  heavenly  vision,  but  to  teach  us  how  to  be 
obedient  and  true  to  the  heavenly  vision.  Then 
indeed  will  the  joy  be  a  joy  that  does  not  go  ; 
then  indeed  will  the  light  be  a  light  that  does  not 
fade,  Sundays,  Mondays,  all  the  days  it  will 
sing  and  shine,  becoming  brighter  and  brighter 
through  all  the  days  on  earth,  till  the  vision  of 
hope  and  faith  merges  and  blends  at  last  into 
the  fuller  vision  of  sight. 

The  whole  subject,  may  I  say  in  conclusion,  it 
seems  to  '"me  has  special  application  to  young 
men.  The  visions  of  early  life  as  a  rule  are  high 
and  bright  and  pure.     Every  young  person  who  is 


THE   TRUE   VISION   AND   THE  FALSE   SEER.     189 

worth  anything,  or  who  will  ever  amount  to 
anything,  has  such  visions.  He  may  not  care  to 
talk  about  them  to  his  elders  or  his  companions, 
but  nevertheless,  if  he  is  worth  anything,  he  has 
them,  and  in  his  soul  he  dreams  them.  Well, 
my  friends,  go  on  dreaming  those  dreams. 
Whatever  your  line  in  life  may  be,  political  life, 
business  life,  social  life,  go  on  dreaming  those 
dreams.  Let  not  the  world  rob  you  of  them,  for 
those  dreams  of  the  soul  are  the  visions  of  God, 
and  the  man  who  has  them  is  clothed  with  the 
power  of  God,  is  insj)ired  by  the  spirit  of  God, 
becomes  more  and  more  the  incarnation  of  God, 
and  is  to  his  generation,  the  age  in  which  he 
lives,  the  revelation  of  God. 


SIN,  AND  ITS  DELIVERER. 

And  he  laid  his  right  hand  upon  me,  saying  unto  me.  Fear  not ; 
I  am  the  first  and  the  last:  1  am  he  that  liveth  and  was  dead;  and 
have  the  keys  of  hell. — Revelation  i.  17,  18. 

The  Book  of  Revelation  is  hard  and  to  a  great 
extent  unintelligible  reading.  Its  sublime  utter- 
ances shine  out  upon  the  pages  of  the  Bible  like 
the  stars  in  the  midnight  sky.  There  the  stars 
are,  as  everyone  can  see,  and  doubtless  they  are 
there  for  a  wise  and  good  purpose,  but  what  that 
purpose  is  we  have  not  yet  managed  fully  to 
ascertain.  There  are  some  things  about  the 
stars,  however,  not  many,  but  a  few,  which  we  do 
understand,  and  there  are  some  things  about  the 
Book  of  Revelation  which  seem  to  be  tolerably 
clear.  It  is  a  book  which  describes,  like  Dante's 
Inferno,  with  weird  speech  and  eccentric  simile, 
the  sufferings  caused  by  sin,  its  moral  and 
spiritual  deaths,  its  blighting  plagues  and  judg- 
ments. And  these  are  so  api)alling  even  to  con- 
template, that,  to  give  the  writer  courage  to 
enter  upon  the  task  of  narration,  he  is  made  to 
see  in  vision  the  form  and  to  hear  the  voice  of 

190 


SIN,    AND   ITS   DELIVERER.  191 

One  who  has  conquered  all  things,  even  death 
and  the  grave,  who  can  and  does  deliver  froni 
the  prison-house  of  sin  and  has  the  keys  of  hell. 
Let  me  ask  you  to-day  to  think  with  me  a  little 
while  about  this  pervading  purpose  of  the 
Apocalypse  of  St.  John,  which,  when  trans- 
lated into  our  common  speech,  is  to  make  us  see 
what  sin  is  and  how  in  Jesus  Christ  we  are 
delivered  from  it. 

First,  the  effect  of  sin.  There  is,  I  think,  no 
greater  ethical  distinction  between  the  present 
and  the  past  than  the  different  estimates  j)laced 
in  the  two  periods  of  time  upon  the  significance 
of  sin.  To-day  we  are  a  little  disposed  to  make 
light  of  it,  to  condone  it,  to  find  in  various  ways 
palliation  for  it,  to  regard  it  not  so  much  as 
a  moral  evil  for  which  the  offender  is  himself 
responsible,  but  rather  as  a  misfortune  of  which 
he  is  the  victim,  perhaps  the  innocent  and  help- 
less victim.  We  regard  him  as  the  product  of 
heredity,  or  the  creature  of  environment,  or  the 
embodiment  simply  of  some  wild,  eccentric 
tendency  in  our  social  life,  which,  in  the  gradual 
development  of  our  social  life  from  chaos  into 
cosmos,  has  not  yet  been  orbed  into  order,  has 
not  found  as  yet  its  true  and  proper  place.  And 
so  for  various  reasons  we  have  come  to  have  in 


192  SIN,    AND   ITS   DELIVERER. 

our  modern  life  not  that  vivid  sense  of  sin,  its 
hideousness,  its  shamefulness,  its  misery,  its 
guiltiness,  which  the  people  of  other  and  earlier 
ages  had,  and  which,  as  we  read  their  literature 
and  study  their  story,  we  find  to  be  one  of  the 
prominent  and  characteristic  features  of  it. 

Look  at  the  classical  writings  of  the  old 
Greeks,  for  example.  See  how  through  them 
all  this  tragic  thread  of  suffering  for  moral  evil 
runs.  The  doom  of  the  man  who  sins,  how  sure 
it  is,  how  inexorable  !  even  when,  as  in  the  case 
of  an  ffidipus,  he  does  not  know  that  he  has  com- 
mitted a  sin,  or  as  in  the  case  of  an  Orestes, 
whom  the  avenging  furies  pursue  to  madness, 
despite  the  mitigating  circumstances  of  the  sin. 
Consciously  or  unconsciously  the  sin  has  been 
committed,  the  moral  wrong  been  done,  and 
the  penalty  must  be  paid,  satisfaction  given,  and 
expiation  had.  This  is  the  thought  that  runs 
through  all  the  poetry  of  the  Greeks,  which  has 
made  it  so  sublime,  and  given  such  greatness  to 
it ;  not  the  delicacy  of  its  artistic  feeling 
merely,  not  the  fineness  of  its  aesthetic  percep- 
tion merely,  not  simply  the  loftiness  and  the  ele- 
gance of  its  intellectual  tone,  but  the  dark 
shadow  of  sin  that  is  on  it,  the  sense  of  sin  that 
pervades  it,  the   cry  of  the  human  soul  in  its 


SIN,    AND   ITS   DELIVERER.  193 

wrestling  with  sin,  in  its  tragic  endeavor  to 
escape  the  expiation  which  cannot  be  escaped, 
and  which  the  commission  of  sin  imposes  and 
requires. 

As  with  the  noblest  literature  of  the  old  pagan 
past,  so  has  it  been  with  the  noblest  poetry  of 
the  Christian  past.  I  have  said  that  the 
Apocalypse  of  St,  John  is  like  the  Inferno  of 
Dante.  And  what  is  the  Inferno  of  Dante,  that 
greatest  of  epic  poems  ?  What  has  made  it  so 
great  ?  Why  has  it  touched  so  profoundly  and 
had  such  a  powerful  hold  on  the  heart  and  life  of 
the  world  ?  The  genius  of  Dante  ;  yes,  but  some- 
thing more  ;  the  genius  of  Dante  trying  to  tell  in 
the  weird  and  fantastic  language  of  the  theology 
of  the  day  the  story  of  man  as  a  sinner,  showing 
how  awful  is  sin,  what  depths  of  hell  are  in  it, 
how  sure  and  great  is  the  suffering  to  which  its 
commission  leads.  And  hence  it  was  that  the 
voice  of  the  old  Florentine  singer  awakened 
all  Europe,  aroused  it  from  its  lethargy,  and 
appealed  so  strongly  to  it. 

And  as  with  the  poem  of  Dante,  so  with  that 
other  great  Christian  poem  which  is  only  second 
to  Dante — the  poem  of  Milton,  which  is  not 
simply  the  story  of  sin  in  human  life,  but  the 
story  of  sin  in  the  universe  :  not  simply  the  epic 


194  SIN,    AND   ITS   DELIVERER. 

of  man  as  a  sinner,  but  of  larger  compass, 
of  wider  scope — the  epic  of  sin  itself.  This  is 
its  greatness,  its  sublimity,  not  its  dignified 
movements  and  stately  measures  merely,  its 
similes,  its  allegories,  its  fine  poetic  creations, 
but  the  deep,  awful,  tragic  sense  of  sin  which  is 
in  the  poet's  soul,  and  which  he  has  imparted  to 
his  song. 

So,  if  time  permitted  and  this  were  not  a 
sermon  which  I  am  trying  to  preach,  with  a 
practical  purpose  in  view,  many  other  instances 
might  be  cited,  from  the  literature  of  the  past — 
from  the  "  Ethics,"  of  a  Seneca,  and  the  writings 
of  an  Aurelius,  and  the  "Faust"  of  a  Goethe, 
and  the  "Macbeth"  of  a  ShaksjDere,  and  even 
so  recent  a  past  as  the  "  Manfred"  of  a  Byron — 
all  of  them  going  to  show  how  different  is  the 
sense  of  sin  in  our  modern  life  and  literature, 
and  how  much  less  is  the  significance  which  we 
attribute  to  it.  It  does  not  seem  to  be  such  a 
large  and  active  factor  in  our  modern  thought, 
does  not  seem  to  enter  so  strongly  into  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  modern  world,  and  even  if  we 
had  in  our  modern  society  the  genius  of  the  old 
Greek  tragedian,  or  of  the  Florentine  singer,  we 
would  not  have  and  could  not  have  their  poems 
and  their    songs.      Some    other    theme    would 


SIN,    AND   ITS   DELIVERER.  195 

inspire  them,  some  other  topic  touch  and  itwaken 
the  genius  in  them,  for  the  sense  of  sin  in  the 
modern  world  would  not  be  sufficiently  strong 
and  active  to  evoke  it.  And  yet  in  that  book,  to 
which  the  modern  world,  despite  its  enlighten- 
ment, still  looks  for  its  highest  instruction  in 
all  matters  affecting  its  spiritual  destiny ;  with 
what  severest  language,  graphic,  startling  terms 
of  speech  is  human  sin  described !  And  the 
burden  of  all  its  literature,  its  epic,  its  psal- 
mody, its  history,  the  burden  of  its  story  is 
this,  that  sin  is  death,  is  hell,  and  that 
righteousness  only  is  life.  That  is  the  refrain 
that  we  hear  throughout  the  New  Testament 
story  also,  not  only  in  the  Apocalypse  of  St. 
John,  and  in  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  but  in  the 
gracious  utterances  of  Jesus  Christ  himself, 
who,  while  speaking  to  men  with  a  love  that  had 
never  been  witnessed  in  the  history  of  the  world 
before  and  has  never  been  since,  has  neverthe- 
less depicted  as  no  one  else  has  done  the  misery 
and  the  awfulness  of  sin. 

And  so  important  did  it  seem  to  Jesus  Christ 
that  men  should  be  delivered  from  the  power  of 
sin,  that  almost  everything  else  was  of  little 
consequence  in  comxDarison  with  it.  It  is 
not  necessary,  he    seemed  to  say  to  men,  that 


196  SIN,  AND   ITS   DELIVERER. 

you  sliould  live  a  few  years  more  or  less, 
that  you  should  have  fine  houses  and  com- 
fortable clothes,  that  you  should  have  more 
worldly  goods  and  possessions.  These  things 
are  important  and  valuable  ;  get  them  if  you 
can ;  but  they  are  not  necessary.  There  is 
only  one  necessity — seek  first  the  kingdom  of 
God.  It  is  better  to  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God,  halt,  maimed,  blind,  than  having  all 
your  bodily  members — two  hands,  two  feet,  two 
eyes — to  be  cast  into  hell  fire.  What  is  a  man 
profited  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  then  lose 
himself,  his  soul,  his  life  ?  How  we  like  to  skip 
these  words  in  the  gospel  story  as  we  read  it ; 
and  yefc  the  words  are  there,  coming  from  the 
lips  of  the  gentle  and  gracious  Christ,  who  went 
from  place  to  place,  from  synagogue  to  seashore, 
from  desert  plain  to  mountain-toj),  saying  to  the 
wondering  crowds,  that  followed  him  every- 
where, "Go  and  sin  no  more.  Go  and  sin  no 
more."  And  when  he  saw  that  they  did  not 
heed  his  words,  but  went  rushing  madly  on  to 
their  own  destruction  and  doom,  he  felt  in  his 
sympathetic  soul  siich  a  sense  of  the  misery  of 
their  sin  that  his  whole  frame  shook  with  agony 
till  the  blood  burst  out  of  the  pores. 

Ah,  my  friends,  desjDite  the  fact  that  the  mod- 


SIN,    AND   ITS   DELIVERER.  197 

ern  world  is  disposed  to  make  light  of  sin,  and 
condone  it,  and  to  say  foolish  things  about  it,  that 
teaching  of  Jesus  Christ  is  true  and  experience 
has  proved  it  true  ;  not  merely  that  sin  will  here- 
after issue  in  a  moral  state  and  condition  which 
Jesus  Christ  and  the  Bible  describe  as  hell — that 
of  course  is  something  which  we  cannot  now  ex- 
perience— but  that  sin  itself  here  and  now  is  hell, 
and  that  the  man  who  sins  is  in  hell.  He  may 
not  know  it,  and  he  may  enjoy  it.  But,  to  use 
the  simile  of  another,  is  corruption  any  the 
less  corruption  because  the  worm  loves  it  ?  Is 
hell  any  the  less  hell  because  we  take  pleasure 
in  it  ?  But  the  jjleasure  does  not  last;  and  sooner 
or  later  we  find  that  sin  indeed  is  a  scourge, 
an  anguish,  a  pain,  a  remorse,  a  scorpion  sting,  a 
ser23ent  coil,  a  scourging  fire,  and  that  Jesus 
Christ  has  not  too  strongly  described  it.  Yes,  toe 
find  it — for  I  am  not  speaking  of  the  sins  of  the 
Jews  in  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ,  nor  am  I  speak- 
ing of  the  sins  of  the  men  down  at  the  Rescue 
Mission,  but  of  your  sins  and  mine, — ah,  we  have 
them, — which  sooner  or  later  force  us  to  cry  with 
the  sinner  of  long  ago,  "  Oh,  wretched  man  that 
I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  this  body  of  sin 
and  hell?  "  Who?  Jesus  Christ:  the  hell  of 
sin  has  a  door,  and  Christ  holds  the  key. 


198  SIN,    AND   ITS   DELIVBEEK. 

This  brings  me  to  the  purpose  which  I  have 
had  in  view  from  the  outset.  I  have  said  that  the 
Apocalypse  of  St.  John  is  like  the  "Inferno"  of 
Dante.  There  is  yet  another  point  of  compari- 
son. Every  part  of  the  "Divine  Comedy,"  as 
some  of  you  perhaps  remember,  ends  with  the 
word  "  stars  " ;  for  these,  as  one  of  his  critics  has 
said,  are  the  blessed  abodes  of  peace  to  which  the 
heart  of  the  poet  is  forever  aspiring,  and  which 
send  their  beams  of  hope  down  to  the  darkest 
dungeons  which  he  is  describing,  and  give  the 
promise  of  deliverance  to  those  imprisoned 
there.  So  does  St.  John  in  his  still  more  won- 
derful poem,  in  setting  forth  so  strongly  the  suf- 
ferings caused  by  sin,  give  us  the  vision  of  one 
who  has  the  keys  of  hell,  who  can  unlock  the  door 
here,  there,  anywhere,  in  this  world  or  the  next, 
and  set  the  prisoners  free.  Surely  just  that  is 
what  Jesus  Christ  has  done  in  the  past.  Let 
men  call  him  what  they  please — man,  or  God,  or 
both — he  has  opened  the  prison  door  and  set  the 
prisoners  free. 

How  has  he  done  it?  Why,  in  the  same 
way  precisely — that  you  do  it,  or  can  do  it. 
Someone  has  done  you  a  wrong,  cherishes  in 
his  heart  a  feeling  of  hatred  against  you.  How 
can  you  overcome  that  feeling  and  get  it  out  of 


SIN,    AND   ITS   DELIVERER.  199 

his  heart  ?  Punish,  crush,  scourge,  denounce, 
hate  him  in  return,  and  while  by  the  manifesta- 
tion of  your  superior  strength  you  may  prevent 
him  from  doing  any  further  injury  to  you,  yet  in 
his  heart  he  will  hate  you  more  and  more,  and 
be  glad  of  a  chance  to  hurt  you.  But  go  and  to 
the  uttermost,  with  nothing  reserved,  forgive 
him,  make  him  through  your  love  for  him  love 
you  in  return,  and  the  hatred — there  is  none  ; 
we  look  for  it,  and  it  is  gone,  it  has  vanished 
like  smoke,  and  the  man  who  has  sinned  against 
you  sins  against  you  no  more. 

Oh,  you  say,  that  is  too  hard,  you  cannot  do  it. 
No,  perhaps  not,  but  Jesus  Christ  can  and  does, 
and  makes  men  feel  that  the  God  whom  he 
reveals,  no  matter  how  great  the  sin,  how  dark, 
how  awful,  even  though  it  be  the  piercing  and 
the  wounding  and  the  killing  of  the  Son  of  Man 
himself — that  the  God  whom  he  reveals  is  a 
God  who  forgives  to  the  uttermost,  and  loves, 
and  loves,  and  forever  loves.  That  is  the 
secret  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  which  he  has  as 
with  a  key  unlocked  the  doors  of  the  prison 
house  and  set  the  jirisoners  free.  He  has  sim- 
ply brought  to  bear  upon  the  hearts  of  men 
in  the  past — perhaps  you  and  I  do  not  know 
much  about  it,  perhaps  we  have  not  felt  it— this 


200  SIN,    AND   ITS   DELIVEKER. 

great  and  strong  power,  this  almighty  power  ; 
yes,  almighty  power  of  love.  And  touched  and 
moved  and  quickened  by  it,  by  the  power  of  one 
who  loves  them  and  whom  they  love  in  return, 
they  have  risen  above  and  conquered  their  sins, 
and  the  prisoners  have  been  set  free. 

What  Jesus  Christ  has  done  in  the  past  he  can 
do  to-day.  Are  we  under  the  dominion — not  per- 
haps of  gross,  licentious  sins  which  the  world 
denounces,  and  which  for  fear  of  the  denouncing 
we  avoid,  but  are  we  under  the  dominion  of  a 
pride,  an  envy,  a  jealousy,  some  hurtful  passion, 
some  worldly  and  self-seeking  ambition,  from 
which  we  cannot  escape  ?  Are  there  frailties  and 
infirmities  and  impurities  in  our  life,  our  thought, 
our  speech,  our  conduct,  our  character  which  w^e 
have  been  trying  for  years,  but  trying  in  vain, 
to  conquer  ?  Is  there  a  vision  of  right,  of  duty,  of 
a  higher  and  better  life,  of  a  kingdom  of  heaven 
before  us,  which  we  are  not  able  to  enter,  but 
from  which,  defeated,  foiled,  baffled,  we  are  for- 
ever falling  back  into  a  life  so  low,  so  sordid, 
so  unsatisfactory  that  it  makes  us  feel  at  times 
as  though  it  were  hell  itself?  It  is  hell;  and 
as  long  as  we  are  under  the  dominion  of  sin  we 
are  in  hell. 

But  let  us  go  and  learn  upon  the  authority  of 


SIN,    AND   ITS   DELIVEliKK.  201 

Jesus  Christ — what  better  authority  can  we 
have? — that  the  great  and  mighty  power  which 
is  working  so  mysteriously  in  the  universe  about 
us,  and  "still  weaving  its  eternal  secret  visible 
and  invisible  around  our  lives,"  is  not  the  power 
of  law,  accident,  fate,  caprice,  but  the  power  of 
an  infinite  love.  And  then  the  fire  of  love  will 
extinguish  the  fire  of  hell  and  the  heart  will  be 
touched  and  purified  with  a  new  and  nobler 
passion,  and  the  prison  doors  will  be  opened  and 
we,  the  prisoners,  will  be  free. 

Is  there  someone  here  this  morning,  whose 
conscience  smarts  with  the  sense  of  some  great 
sin  he  has  done,  some  great  wrong  committed, 
the  memory  of  which  burns  at  times  like  a  fire, 
and  which  makes  him  feel  that  he  is  unworthy 
to-day  to  come  and  kneel  at  this  chancel  rail  ? 
Oh,  my  friend,  remember  that  it  is  the  God  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  whom  you  come  ;  the  God  of  him 
who,  when  men  spat  in  his  face  and  mocked  him 
and  pierced  his  side  and  broke  his  heart,  said  with 
inextinguishable  love,  "Father,  forgive  them"; 
and  he  did  forgive,  and  he  does  forgive,  and  he 
is  forgiving  you.  Let  the  old  memory  trouble 
you  no  longer.  Come  with  bended  form  and 
bowed  knee  and  heart  to  receive  the  assurance 
of  his  love — then  go  and  sin  no  more. 


202  SIN,    AND   ITS   DELIVERER. 

What  Jesus  Christ  has  done  in  the  past  and 
what  he  does  to-day,  I  for  one  believe  he  will 
hereafter  do.  Wherever  men  sin,  there  is  hell, 
whether  it  be  in  New  York  City  or  in  some  other 
city  ;  whether  it  be  in  this  world  or  in  some  other 
world.  Wherever  men  cease  from  sin,  in  this 
world  or  some  other  world,  they  are  delivered 
from  hell.  And  Jesus  Christ  has  revealed  the 
power  which  can  make  men  cease  from  sin,  and 
will,  I  believe,  at  last  make  all  men  cease  from 
sin.  He  holds  the  keys  of  hell  here,  there, 
everywhere ;  and  I  for  a  moment  do  not  doubt 
that  he  will  unlock  the  doors  of  all  hells  and 
set  the  prisoners  free. 

You  may  remind  me  that  Jesus  Christ  has 
said  that  it  is  an  everlasting  fire,  a  fire  that  is 
not  quenched.  Yes,  so  it  is.  Does  it  follow 
that  because  the  fire  burns  forever  somebody  is 
in  it  forever  ?  As  long  as  the  creatures  of  God 
are  free — which  will  be,  I  presume,  forever — they 
will  be  free  to  sin,  and  with  this  everlasting 
possibility  of  sin  in  the  universe,  there  will  be 
an  everlasting  fire  in  it,  ready  to  break  out  and 
burn  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  choose  to  sin. 
But  the  perfect  love  of  God  can  make  men  cease 
from  sin,  and  will,  I  believe,  finally  make  all  men 
cease  from  sin,  and  choose  not  to  sin,  to  sin  no 


SIN,    AND   ITS   DELIVERER.  203 

more,  and  the  everlasting  prison  house  will 
have  no  prisoners  in  it.  Love,  love  at  last  will 
conquer  all  and  conquer  everywhere. 

I  began  my  sermon  by  instituting  a  compar- 
ison between  the  Apocalypse  and  the  "  Divine 
Comedy":  let  me  so  close  it.  It  was  a  Yirgil, 
you  remember,  the  man  of  letters,  the  scholar, 
who  conducted  a  Dante  through  the  mis- 
eries of  the  "Inferno"  and  the  "  Purgato- 
rio "  and  enabled  him  to  look  upon  them. 
But  the  man  of  letters  can  go  no  farther.  It 
was  a  Beatrice^  the  symbol  of  pure  and  per- 
fect love,  who  led  him  through  the  gates 
and  among  the  circles  of  Paradise.  Learning, 
knowledge,  high  scholarship,  culture,  are  good, 
but  they  have  not  the  adequate  power  to 
redeem  from  sin — they  simply  show  us  sin. 
Love  alone  can  redeem  from  sin.  Jesus  Christ 
is  love,  his  gospel  stands  for  love  ;  a  love  that  will 
at  last  burst  the  bars  of  every  prison  house  in  the 
universe  and  set  the  prisoners  free.  He  holds 
in  his  right  hand  the  keys  of  hell,  and  he  will 
unlock  the  door. 


CONSCIENCE. 

And  Jamb  was  left  alone;  and  there  wrestled  a  man  with  Mm, 
until  the  breaking  of  the  day. — Genesis  xxxii.  24. 

These  words  belong  to  a  very  eventful  incident 
in  the  career  of  Jacob  ;  let  ns  see  what  it  was. 
Twenty  years  before  the  date  of  it  he  had  sinned 
against  and  defrauded  his  brother  Esau  of  his 
birthright  ;  and  now,  after  the  lapse  of  so  long  a 
time,  he  is  returning  rich  and  prosperous  to  his 
native  land  with  the  expectation  of  meeting  that 
defrauded  brother.  And  while  in  his  solitude 
upon  the  margin  of  the  brook  Jabbok — for  he 
had  sent  all  his  companions  on — he  is  meditat- 
ing with  some  apprehension  upon  the  possible 
results  of  that  interview,  he  seems  to  become 
aware,  as  the  twilight  gathers  and  deepens  and 
the  darkness  settles  upon  him,  of  the  presence 
of  some  antagonist  both  mysterious  and  power- 
ful, whose  grappling  form  he  can  feel  but  is  not 
able  to  see,  and  whose  name  he  does  not  know. 
It  is  a  long  and  desperate  encounter,  lasting 
throughout  the  night.  Finally,  however,  his  an- 
tagonist prevails  against  him,  and  by  throwing 

ao4 


CONSCIENCE.  205 

his  body  out  of  joint  gets  the  victory  over  him, 
not,  however,  with  the  usual  result  of  making 
him  weaker  by  the  defeat,  but  greater  and 
more — by  conquering  he  blesses  him  and  by 
subduing  him  makes  him  strong.  Then  when 
the  struggle  is  over  and  the  night  is  gone  and 
the  day  breaks,  Jacob  perceives  that  the  per- 
son who  has  been  wrestling  with  him  is  not 
human,  but  divine ;  and  he  calls  the  place 
Peniel,  "for  I  have  seen  God  face  to  face,  and 
my  life  is  preserved." 

It  is  a  curious  story  and  perhaps  in  part 
legendary,  but  no  matter.  It  is  both  human 
and  true,  and  I  want  to  show  you  this  morning 
how  true  and  human  it  is. 

"  Jacob  was  left  alone,  and  there  wrestled  a 
man  with  him."  You  remember  the  incident 
related  of  one  of  the  celebrated  court  preachers 
of  France  in  the  last  century,  that  when  on  one 
occasion  he  was  expounding  in  the  royal  pres- 
ence the  seventh  chapter  of  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  in  which  the  writer  so  graphically 
describes  his  conflict  with  himself,  as  though  it 
were  a  conflict  between  two  men  within  him, 
"The  good  that  I  would  I  do  not,  and  the  evil 
that  I  would  not,  that  I  do,"  he  was  suddenly 
interrupted  in    the  midst  of  his  discourse  by 


206  COT^SCIETiTCE. 

the  king  exclaiming,  "  I  know  those  two  men — 
I  know  them." 

Yes,  and  so  we  do,  intimately.  How  often 
does  it  seem  as  though  our  human  life  were  not 
one,  but  two ;  as  though  in  addition  to  the  per- 
sonality in  us  which  is  visible  and  which  through 
speech  and  conduct  shows  itself  to  the  world, 
there  were  some  other  second  personality  in  us 
which  is  invisible,  and  which  the  world  does  not 
see,  cannot  see,  which  we  ourselves  cannot  see, 
which  nevertheless  we  feel,  and  feel  at  times  so 
vividly  as  wrestling  with  us,  fighting  against  us, 
trying  so  hard  to  defeat  and  get  the  victory  over 
us  ?  What  is  it  ?  Conscience  ?  The  moral  sense  ? 
Yes,  but  what  is  conscience  ?  It  is  ourselves 
fighting  with,  struggling  against,  pleading  with 
ourselves — ourselves  trying  to  vanquish  and 
overcome  ourselves,  as  though,  I  say,  we  were 
two  selves,  or  there  were  two  selves  within  us, 
contending  with  one  another,  listening  to  one 
another,  carrying  on  a  dialogue  and  talking  to 
one  another.  One  self  speaks  to  the  other  self, 
and  the  other  self  replies.  One  self  says,  "I 
want  to,"  and  the  other  self  says,  "I  must 
not."  One  self  says,  "I  will,"  and  the  other  self 
says,  "I  cannot";  and  so  the  debate  goes  on  and 
the  controversy  and  the  conflict  as  between  two 


CONSCIENCE.  207 

selves  within  us.  Conscience?  Yes,  it  is  con- 
science, but  again  I  ask,  what  is  conscience  ? 
Books  almost  innumerable  have  been  written 
by  men  to  tell  us  what  conscience  is.  The 
scientist  has  tried  to  dissect  it,  and  the  moralist 
to  explain  it,  and  the  philosopher  to  define  it, 
and  the  poet  and  the  dramatist  with  suitable 
speech  and  action,  have  tried  so  hard  to  portray 
it  upon  the  theatre  boards  and  to  make  it  live 
and  move  and  cry,  and  embody  itself  before  us. 
In  what  ponderous  volumes  of  Scotch  and  Ger- 
man metaphysic  and  mediaeval  casuistry  and 
Greek  and  Roman  tragedy  have  the  attempts 
been  made  to  describe  it  and  to  show  us  in  what 
it  consists !  And  yet  nowhere,  it  seems  to  me, 
do  we  find  a  better  description  of  it,  or  a  descrip- 
tion half  so  good,  as  in  that  old  story  of  Jacob 
which  the  book  of  Genesis  gives,  and  which  St. 
Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  describing 
his  conflict  with  himself,  seems  to  have  had 
in  mind. 

After  a  score  of  years — it  is  a  long  time  in  a 
man's  career — -Jacob  is  returning  to  the  scene 
of  his  old  forgotten  sin,  and  it  all  comes  back 
and  revives,  and  seems  to  rise  out  of  its  grave 
again,  and  Jacob  is  alone  with  his  sin.  Every- 
thing else  has  left  him,  faded,  vanished,  gone — 


208  CONSCIENCE. 

not  merely  his  friends  and  companions  and 
the  consciousness  of  them,  but  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  greatness,  the  consciousness  of  his 
wealth,  the  consciousness  of  the  high  and 
eminent  degree  of  prosperity  to  which  he  had 
attained ;  it  has  all  faded  and  gone  and  Jacob 
is  alone  with  his  sin.  And  there  wrestles  with 
him  throughout  the  night — not  conscience  does 
he  call  it ;  it  seems  like  something  alive,  like 
something  personal,  like  the  wrestling  with  him 
of  a  man,  and  lie  seems  to  hear  it  speak  to  him 
as  with  a  personal  voice,  and  he  seems  to  feel 
it  touch  him,  and  lay  its  hand  upon  him  and 
press  its  body  against  him  as  with  personal 
pressure  and  touch.  And  then  when  the 
struggle  is  over  and  the  night  has  gone  and 
the  day  breaks,  he  is  made  to  see  and  know 
that  it  was  something  personal ;  that  it  was  in 
truth  the  personal  God  who  had  been  wrestling 
with  him.  And  that  is  conscience  ;  that  is  what 
conscience  is,  and  why  so  often  it  seems  at  times 
like  some  other  part  of  ourself.  It  is  some  other 
part  of  ourself — it  is  the  Grod  part  of  ourself,  it 
is  God  wrestling  with  us.  That  is  the  name  for 
it,  and  nowhere  else  in  all  literature,  I  think,  in 
Byron  or  Shakspere  or  Dante,  as  in  that  old 
story    of    Jacob,    is    it    so    clearly,    so   vividly 


coNSciEisrcE.  209 

shown — like  a  picture — to  be  the  wrestling  with 
us  of  God. 

And  that  wrestling  of  God  with  men  still  goes 
on  in  the  world.  There  are  times  indeed  when 
they  do  not  seem  to  feel  it  very  much,  as  Jacob 
did  not — long  times,  covering  perhaps  a  period 
of  many  years.  Like  Jacob  they  are  busy  with 
worldly  affairs  and  interests  and  ambitions 
and  asj^irations,  with  trying  to  become  rich  and 
prosperous  and  to  get  on  in  the  world  ;  and  that 
wrestling  with  them  of  God,  except  for  an  occa- 
sional twinge  or  wrench,  they  do  not  feel  it 
much. 

But  there  are  other  times,  and  they  are  sure 
to  come,  when  they  do  feel  it,  when  through 
the  suggestive  happening  of  some  unexpected 
incident,  the  suggestive  association  of  some  old 
place  or  scene — a  sight,  a  sound,  a  memory, 
an  anniversary,  or  when  through  the  working 
in  them  of  some  deep,  mysterious  force,  which 
they  are  not  able  to  explain,  there  is  borne 
in  upon  their  souls  the  consciousness  of  sin  or 
of  sinfulness — the  overwhelming  consciousness 
of  it,  and  it  seems  so  absorbingly  real.  They 
had  not  thought  much  about  it  before,  they  had 
not  minded  it  much,  and  moving  from  day  to 
day  among    their    fellow-men    and    comparing 


210  CONSCIE^N^CE. 

tlisraselves  with  tliem,  it  had  seemed  to  be 
enough  that  they  were  no  worse  than  they.  But 
now  they  are  not  conscious  of  their  fellow- 
men — they  are  conscious  of  sin,  and  that  con- 
sciousness of  sin  or  of  sinfulness,  their  own  per- 
sonal sinfulness,  as  in  the  case  of  Jacob,  has  the 
effect  to  efface  the  consciousness  of  everything 
else.  Everything  else  disappears  and  seems  to 
drop  out  of  sight  and  they  are  alone  with  sin, 
their  sin  ;  and  God  seems  to  come  and  grapple 
and  wrestle  with  them,  and  will  not  let  them  go. 
Ah,  yes,  that  old  story  of  Jacob  in  the  book  of 
Genesis,  how  true  it  is,  how  human,  how  old  and 
yet  how  new  !  God  still  wrestles  with  man.  I 
should  not  be  surprised  if  he  were  wrestling  with 
some  of  you.  And  it  seems  like  a  part  of  your- 
self, doesn't  it?  struggling  with  yourself.  And 
it  is  a  part  of  yourself — it  is  the  God  part  of  your- 
self, pleading  with,  struggling  with,  trying  to 
get  the  victory  over  the  other  part  of  yourself. 
And  some  day  I  think  you  will  see  it,  that  that 
old  story  of  Jacob  in  the  book  of  Genesis  is  your 
story  too ;  that  that  wrestling  with  you  of  con- 
science, that  wrestling  with  you  of  duty,  in  the 
voice  which  says,  I  ought  to,  the  voice  that  says. 
It  is  right,  though  perhaps  in  this  bewildering 
night  time  when  things  are  so  confused  you  do 


CONSCIENCE.  211 

not  see  it  clearly,  3^011  will  hereafter  see,  when 
the  night  has  gone  and  the  day  breaks,  has  been 
the  wrestling  with  you  of  God. 

But  let  me  go  on  to  the  concluding  part  of  the 
story  and  call  your  attention  to  that  other  mys- 
terious way,  through  circumstance  as  well  as 
through  conscience,  or  through  circumstance 
re-enforcing  conscience,  in  which  God  wrestles 
with  us  and  tries  to  bring  us  at  last  into  submis- 
sion to  him. 

"Jacob  was  left  alone  and  there  wrestled  a 
man  with  him."  So  at  the  time  it  seemed. 
"And  when  he  perceived  that  he  prevailed  not 
against  him,  he  touched  the  hollow  of  his  thigh, 
and  Jacob's  thigh  was  out  of  joint."  Is  not  that 
too  a  modern  as  well  as  an  ancient  story  ?  For 
no  matter  how  men  may  interpret  the  fact,  the 
fact  itself  is  obvious  enough,  is  at  times  sad  and 
painful  enough,  that  some  great  mysterious  force 
is  working  in,  upon,  and  through  our  human 
life,  dissolving  its  ties  and  relationships  and 
severing  and  breaking  its  dearest  bonds  and  its 
most  sacred  unions,  and  throwing  it  out  of  joint. 
There  are  hospitals  in  our  cities  and  scattered 
over  the  land,  which  a  generous  humanity  has 
provided  for  broken  and  wounded  bodies — 
bodies     which  have    been    broken   by    disease 


212  CONSCIENCE. 

or  which  accident  has  thrown  out  of  joint.  But 
ah,  where  are  the  hospitals  that  can  hold  and 
shelter  the  hearts  that  have  been  broken  and 
wounded  and  crippled  and  thrown  out  of 
joint !  All  over  the  city,  all  over  the  land, 
all  over  the  earth  we  find  them ;  hearts, 
homes,  lives  which  in  some  way,  by  a  living 
trouble,  by  a  dead  trouble,  by  a  loss,  by  a 
disappointment,  by  a  failure,  by  a  want,  by  a 
withholding  pressure,  by  a  disturbing  touch, 
have  been  wrenched  away  from  what  was  best, 
brightest,  dearest  in  life,  and  crippled  and 
thrown  out  of  joint. 

The  fact,  I  say,  is  obvious  enough,  so  obvious,  so 
commonplace  that  it  calls  for  no  comment,  but  it 
cannot  be  ignored.  And  what,  my  friends,  is  the 
explanation  and  the  meaning  of  it  all  ?  Is  there  no 
explanation  at  all  ?  Must  we  just  go  on  stolidly, 
stoically,  and  at  times  a  little  bit  cynically,  doing 
the  best  we  know  and  getting  the  best  we  can, 
and  not  doing  or  getting  much  except  a  little 
more  embittered,  and  a  little  more  hardened, 
as  the  journey  of  life  proceeds  ?  Or  may  it  not 
mean  —  looking  at  it  in  the  light  of  Jesus 
Christ,  does  it  not  mean — this:  that  all  life 
on  earth,  no  matter  how  circumstanced  and 
related,  is  out  of  joint  until  it  is  joined  to  the 


CONSCIENCE.  213 

living  God,  and  tliat  through  these  many  dis- 
placements, dislodgments,  discomfitures,  he  is 
trying  to  bring  it,  to  bind  it  more  closely  to 
himself,  to  develop  more  and  more  what  is 
godlike  in  it  ? 

And  whatever  loss  does  that,  no  matter  how 
sharp  and  painful  and  irreparable  it  may  appear 
at  the  time,  will  prove  in  the  end,  when  the 
struggle  is  over  and  the  night  is  gone  and  the 
day  breaks,  to  have  been  our  best,  greatest,  and 
most  enduring  gain. 

Yes,  the  story  of  Jacob  is  our  story  too,  and 
God  through  conscience  and  through  circum- 
stance wrestles  with  human  life  and  will  not  let 
it  go — not  to  hurt  and  weaken  and  make  it  less, 
but  to  make  it  greater  and  more — by  conquering 
it  to  bless  it,  by  subduing  it  to  make  it  strong. 
At  last  the  conflict  of  Jacob  was  over,  as  our 
conflict  will  be  over.  He  said  "Let  me  go,  for 
the  day  breaketh,"  Was  it  Jacob  or  was  it  God 
who  said  it  ?  It  was  the  God  in  him  who  said 
it ;  the  God  part  of  himself,  wrestling  with  and 
conquering  the  other  part  of  himself,  the  same 
God  who  works  and  wrestles  now  in  us  ;  the  same 
divine,  imperishable  God  life,  which  will  some 
day  say  to  this  earthly  house  and  tabernacle, 
"  My  work  in  you  is  done,    my  wrestling  with 


214  CONSCIENCE. 

you  is  over,  let  me  go,  let  me  go,  for  the  day 
breaketli — the  day  of  cloudless  beauty,  the  day 
where  there  is  no  night,  the  day  in  which 
til  ere  is  no  conflict,  and  no  loss  ;  its  morning 
liglit  has  come  at  last — let  me  go,  for  the  day 
breaketh." 


GOING  ON  JOURNEYS  TO  FIND  CHRIST. 

In  these  days  came  prophets  from  Jerusalem  unto  Antioch. — 
Acts  xi.  27. 

HiSTOEY  repeats  itself,  and  the  history  of  the 
Christian  Church  is  no  exception  to  the  rule.  I 
want  to  try  to  show  you  this  morning  that  the 
way  in  which  at  the  outset  it  was  made  to  grow, 
the  path  in  which  it  moved,  is  the  path  in  which 
it  has  always  moved,  in  which  it  is  moving  now  ; 
that  in  the  words  of  the  text  we  have  that  path 
described,  "from  Jerusalem  unto  Antioch." 

First  let  me  try  to  show  you  what  I  mean  by 
the  terms,  or  what,  as  I  understand  it,  is  the 
significance  of  the  phrase.  Jerusalem  was  the 
place  where  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  began, 
and  its  earliest  disciples  were  Jews,  nor  did  they 
suppose  that  in  accepting  it  they  became  for 
a  moment  anything  else  than  Jews.  They 
accepted  it  because  they  were  Jews,  because 
it  was  the  fulfillment  of  their  Jewish  hopes  and 
beliefs.  And  therefore  we  find  that  after  they 
liad  accepted  it,  they  still  retained  for  a  con- 
siderable time  their  Jewish  rites,  symbols,  sacri- 


216      GOING   ON   JOURNEYS   TO   FIND   CHRIST. 

fices,  ceremonies,  such  as  worshiping  in  the 
synagogue,  the  observance  of  the  seventh  day, 
the  practice  of  circumcision  ;  and  as  Dr.  Mathe- 
son  observes  in  his  monograph  on  St.  Paul,  they 
had  no  more  thought  of  separating  themselves 
from  that  old  Jewish  Church  than  John  Wesley 
had  of  separating  himself  from  the  Church  of 
England.  And  singularly  enough,  he  adds,  the 
name  by  which  they  were  called  was  just  that 
name  of  "Methodists,"  or  as  it  is  translated  in 
the  Book  of  the  Acts  "  Men  of  the  Way,"  which 
means  the  same  thing.  They  were,  in  other 
words,  simply  a  sect  or  party,  not  outside  of 
but  in  the  Jewish  Church ;  very  active  but  also 
very  Jewish ;  and  who  continued  to  look  upon 
that  religion  of  Jesus  as  something  which  was 
meant  particularly  if  not  exclusively  for  them. 

The  time  came,  however,  when  they  dis- 
covered that  that  religion  of  Jesus  was  some- 
thing larger  and  more  than  they  had  supposed 
it  to  be,  and  it  happened  in  this  manner  : 

Some  of  their  number,  it  seems,  went  upon  a 
journey  ;  from  Jerusalem  to  Antioch,  the  capital 
of  Syria,  which  was  not  far  from  Jerusalem 
measured  geographically,  but  socially  and  polit- 
ically it  was  far,  very  far,  and  very  different 
from  Jerusalem.     And  yet  to  their  great  surprise 


GOING   ON   JOURNEYS   TO   FIND   CHRIST.      217 

tliey  found  that  the  people  of  Antioch,  although 
they  were  not  Jews,  were  just  as  ready  to 
respond  to  that  religion  of  Jesus  as  they  them- 
selves had  been.  Then  they  began  to  perceive 
that  that  religion  of  Jesus  was  not  only  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  hopes  entertained  by  them  but  of 
the  hopes  entertained  by  others  ;  that  it  was  the 
fulfillment  of  all  humanity's  hopes ;  that  it 
somehow  seemed  to  touch  and  quicken  and  find 
interpretation  in  the  experience  of  all  mankind, 
in  the  universal  experience  ;  and  that  the  more 
it  came  into  contact  with  the  universal  experi- 
ence, the  higher  and  deeper  and  more  did  the 
religion  of  Jesus  become.  New  meanings 
dawned  within  it,  new  beauties  flashed  across  it, 
new  vistas  opened  before  it,  new  powers  issued 
from  it — the  higher  and  deeper  and  more  did 
the  religion  of  Jesus  appear.  And  it  is  a  signifi- 
cant circumstance  that  those  who  hitherto  had 
been  confining  that  religion  to  the  Jewish  race 
and  people,  preaching  the  Word  to  none  save 
Jews  only,  and  who  were  simply  a  sect  or  party 
in  the  Jewish  Church,  came  now  into  something 
like  a  just  and  true  conception  of  what  that 
religion  was,  of  what  it  was  meant  to  be,  and 
were  called  Christians  first  at  Antioch. 

That  is  what   I  mean   by  the   phrase    "from 


218      GOING   ON   JOURNEYS   TO   FIND   CHRIST. 

Jerusalem  toAntiocli" — the  path  in  which  the 
religion  of  Jesus  at  the  outset  moved,  the  path 
in  which  ever  since  it  has  continued  to  move. 

Look  at  your  own  personal  experience  of  that 
religion.  Is  not  your  conception  of  it  to-day 
something  larger  and  more  than  when  you  first 
accepted  it?  than  when  by  confirmation— or  if 
not  brought  up  in  the  Ex3iscopal  Church,  in 
some  other  manner — you  determined  to  make 
it  the  rule  by  v/hich  you  would  try  to  live.  You 
thought  that  you  understood  it  fairly  well. 
You  had  your  little  questions  to  ask,  and  it 
answered  them  ;  yon  had  your  little  difficulties 
to  remove  and  explain,  and  it  explained  them. 
Your  kiio  vledge  of  it  then,  as  far  as  it  went, 
was  good  and  true  and  you  did  right  to  act  upon 
it.  And  yet,  as  you  now  look  back,  what  a 
limited  knowledge  it  was  and  how  much  greater 
now  does  the  scope  of  religion  appear !  How 
much  more  is  in  it  than  then  you  thought  was  in 
it ;  how  much  more  in  the  Bible  ;  how  much 
more  in  Christ ;  how  much  more  in  the  life 
that  tries  to  follow  Christ,  and  how,  like  some 
unfolding  panoramic  vision,  has  it  been  dis- 
closing new  forms  of  beauty  to  you  and 
causing  you  to  perceive  new  thoughts,  new 
meanings  in  it !     And  how  has  it  come  to  pass 


GOING   ON   JOURNEYS   TO   FIND   CHRIST.      219 

that  the  Christ  whom  you  see  to-day,  while  all 
that  he  was  when  first  you  aiDpreheiided  him,  is 
also  so  much  more  ?  Because  you  have  gone 
on  journeys  from  Jerusalems  to  Antiochs,  not 
physical  journeys,  but  mental  and  moral  jour- 
neys ;  you  have  traveled  further  in  conduct  and 
wandered  farther  in  thought  and  met  with  new 
temptations,  hardshi]3s,  cares,  triumphs — not 
new  indeed  to  those  who  had  traveled  that  path 
before,  yet  which  at  tlie  time  you  started  seemed 
so  strange  and  new  to  you. 

Yes,  you  have  gone  on  journeys,  God  sent  you 
upon  them,  and  from  some  old  Jerusalem  home, 
so  dear  and  sacred  to  you,  some  easy  and  pleas- 
ant place  in  which  you  had  been  living  and  in 
which  you  wanted  to  live,  like  those  early  dis- 
ciples you  have  been  driven  away.  Some  new 
and  foreign  Antioch,  so  different  from  the  old 
Jerusalem,  has  become  your  dwelling  place,  and 
there,  after  a  while  in  that  strange  and  new 
experience,  like  those  early  disciples  again,  you 
have  learned  to  see  new  things  in  Christ,  and  to 
find  new  treasures  in  him.  He  has  taught  you 
something  at  Antioch,  something  about  himself, 
something  larger  and  more,  which  as  you  dwelt 
at  Jerusalem  he  was  not  able  to  teach  you,  or 
rather  which,  while  dwelling  there,  you  were  not 


220      GOING   OlSr   JOURNEYS   TO   FIND    CIIKIST. 

able  to  learn.  But  now  you  have  learned  it,  and 
it  cannot  be  eradicated,  and  no  man  can  take  it 
from  you  ;  and  altliougli  indeed  at  the  outset 
you  received  the  name  of  Christ  and  resolved  to 
follow  him  and  did  follow  him,  yet  now  you 
feel  so  strongly  that  you  scarcely  knew  him 
then,  and  that  you  deserved  to  be  called  a  Chris- 
tian first,  not  at  Jerusalem,  but  at  Antioch. 
You  know  now  what  Christianity  means,  as  then 
you  did  not  know ;  you  have  gone  through  its 
struggles  and  you  have  come  out  into  its  peace  ; 
you  have  gone  through  the  darkness  which  it 
sometimes  sends,  and  you  have  come  out  into  its 
light ;  you  have  fought  its  battles,  and  you  have 
won  its  victories  ;  you  know  what  it  is  now,  and 
no  man  can  take  it  from  you. 

This  is  the  way,  it  seems  to  me,  in  which  we 
learn  of  Christ :  by  going  forth  on  journeys  to 
different  fields  of  adventure,  to  different  phases 
of  experience,  into  the  bright  days  and  the  dark 
days,  the  long  days  and  the  lonely  days,  into  all 
the  days,  each  one  of  which  to  some  extent  is  a 
new  and  different  day  ;  and  thus,  by  looking  at 
Christ  from  different  points  of  view,  we  have 
come  to  know  him  better  and  more. 

Ah,  my  friends,  I  love  to  think — I  do  think — 
that  that  is  what  the  journey  of  life  is  for,  from 


GOING   ON  JOURlSrEYS   TO    FIND   CIIPJST.      221 

cliildliood  to  youth,  to  middle  age,  to  old  age, 
that  strange  and  mysterious  journey  which  you 
and  I  are  taking,  with  so  many  strange  and 
mysterious  happenings  in  it  which  we  cannot 
explain  or  prevent — that  that  is  what  it  is  for. 
I  love  to  think,  and  I  do  think  that  that  is  why 
God  has  sent  us  upon  it ;  not  to  avoid  all  the 
rough  things,  nor  to  meet  with  only  smooth  ; 
not  to  gather  fortunes  and  successes  and  to 
have  a  good  time  and  prosper ;  but  that  by 
going  from  Jerusalems  to  Antiochs,  from  old 
experiences  to  new,  from  one  way  of  living  to 
another,  from  the  mountain-top  to  the  valley,  or 
out  on  the  open  plains,  we  may  find  new  treas- 
ures in  Christ ;  so  that  when  the  journey  of  life 
is  over  we  may  in  some  real  and  true  sense 
deserve  to  be  called  Christians. 

Now,  having  looked  at  the  matter  in  connec- 
tion with  our  personal  experience,  let  us  look  at 
it  for  a  little  while  in  connection  with  the  Chris- 
tian Church  at  large.  The  Christian  Church  to- 
day must  not  dwell  at  Jerusalem.  Let  me  show 
you  what  I  mean.  There  are  some  persons  who 
seem  to  think  that  the  Christian  religion  as  such 
should  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  witli  politics, 
with  great  political  questions,  with  great  eco- 
nomic questions,  scientific,  social,  financial,  eom- 


222      GOING   ON   JOURNEYS   TO   FIND   CHRIST. 

merciiil  questions — questions  so  strongly  agitating 
the  life  of  the  modern  world  and  stirring  it  down 
to  its  depths.  They  think  and  teach  that  the 
Christian  religion  should  have  nothing  to  do 
with  these  things,  but  that  shutting  itself  up  in 
some  narrow  sphere  and  circle  of  its  own,  sing- 
ing psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  and 
dwelling  at  Jerusalem  and  saving  men's  souls 
for  heaven — it  should  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  real  life  of  the  world. 

Ah,  no  ;  the  Christian  religion  must  not  dwell 
at  Jerusalem,  or  not  exclusively  there.  It  must 
go  forth  into  the  great,  busy  life  of  the  world, 
not  to  discuss  political  questions  and  to  tell  men 
how  they  should  vote ;  not  to  discuss  economic 
or  commercial  questions  and  so  become  a  par- 
tisan and  a  disputant  in  the  controversies  of 
modern  life.  'No,  no,  not  that,  not  that,  but 
something  else  and  better.  Its  aim  should  be  to 
try  to  make  men  understand  that  the  Christian 
religion  is  wider  than  some  would  make  it 
appear  ;  that  it  includes  within  its  scope  Antioch 
as  well  as  Jerusalem,  business,  trade,  poli- 
tics ;  that  the  field  of  religion  is  the  world, 
and  that  every  word  which  a  man  speaks  on 
any  subject,  no  matter  where  he  speaks  it,  or 
on  what  subject  he  speaks  it,  is  a  religious  worfl, 


GOING   ON   JOURNEYS   TO   FIND    CIIlilST.      223 

is  a  Christian  word,  and  that  he  is  to  that  extent 
a  religions  man,  a  Christian  man,  there  at 
Antioch.  This  is  what  I  mean  when  I  say  tliat 
the  Christian  Church  should  go  into  the  life  of 
the  world  ;  not  simply  to  take  religion  there,  but 
like  those  early  disciples  when  they  went  down 
from  Jerusalem  to  Antioch,  to  find  religion  there, 
in  all  the  moral  efforts  and  struggles  and  as^nra- 
tions  of  the  world.  It  should  recognize  and  teach 
that  all  the  moral  qualities — purity,  patience, 
truthfulness,  gentleness,  charity,  kindness,  honor, 
honesty,  unselfishness — are  religious  qualities, 
are  Christian  qualities,  and  that  the  men  and 
women  who  exhibit  them  in  the  common  life  of 
the  world  are  religious  men  and  women,  are 
Christian  men  and  women. 

Oh,  let  the  Christian  Church  to-day  go  and 
gather  up  all  these  people  for  Jesus  Christ !  Let 
it  go  and  say  to  the  student  who  is  trying  to 
find  what  is  true,  to  the  busy  man  of  affairs  who 
is  trying  to  do  what  is  right,  who  in  the  midst  of 
temptations  and  weaknesses  is  trying  to  be  pure 
and  strong,  "  My  brother,  you  belong  to  Christ, 
You  may  not  think  as  we  do,  but  still  you  belong 
to  Christ,  and  the  moral  and  spiritual  work 
which  you  are  trying  to  do  is  the  work  which  the 
spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  is  trying  to  do  within  you." 


224      GOING   ON   JOURNEYS   TO   FIND   CHRIST. 

Yes,  let  the  Christian  Church  go  and  claim  all 
virtue,  all  truth,  all  goodness,  for  Jesus  Christ. 
Let  it  go  and  teach  that  goodness  is  not  two  but 
one,  that  as  far  as  it  goes  it  is  Christian  goodness, 
that  it  belongs  to  Christ,  and  thus  gradually  let 
it  gather  up  the  whole  moral  life  of  the  world 
into  Jesus  Christ.  We  often  hear  it  said  that 
the  great  need  at  present  is  the  unity  of  the 
Christian  Church.  But  it  seems  to  me  that 
there  is  a  greater  need  than  that ;  not  the  unity 
of  the  Christian  Church  merely,  but  the  unity 
of  life ;  not  prophets  merely  who  can  walk 
about  Zion  and  build  up  the  walls  of  Jerusalem, 
but  prophets  who  can  go  from  Jerusalem  to 
Antioch,  who  can  say  to  the  people  there,  "  The 
Christ  we  preach  and  bring  is  no  stranger  to  you: 
he  is  the  Christ  within  you,  and  while  it  is  his 
story  we  tell,  it  is  your  story  too. ' '  Then,  it  seems 
to  me,  will  we  as  a  Christian  Church  have  a  larger 
and  nobler  conception  of  what  Christianity  is  ;  we 
will  understand  our  Christian  doctrines  better, 
and  how  to  hold  them  better  in  right  and  true 
proportion,  for  we  have  gone  on  journeys  with 
them  and  ascertained  from  experience  their  prac- 
tical worth  and  value.  We  will  understand 
better  what  the  Christian  religion  is,  for  we  have 
gone  on  a  journey  with  it,  and  have  found  that 


GOING   ON   JOURNEYS   TO   FIND   CHRIST.      225 

it  is  not  only  tlie  fulfillment  of  our  hopes,  but  the 
fulfillment  of  all  of  humanity's  hopes.  We  will 
understand  better  what  Jesus  Christ  is,  for  we 
have  gone  on  a  journey  with  him  and  found  that 
he  is  not  only  the  light  that  lightens  us,  but  the 
true  light,  the  universal  light,  the  light  that 
lightens  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world. 


THE  MAN  AND  THE  PRIEST. 

Amaziah  said  unto  Amos,  0  thou  seer,  go  flee  thee  away  into  the 
land  of  Judah,  and  there  eat  bread,  and  prophesy  there  ; 

But  prophesy  not  again  any  more  at  Beth-el  j  for  it  is  the  king's 
chapel,  and  it  is  the  king's  court. 

Then  answered  Amos,  and  said  to  Amaziah,  I  was  no  prophet, 
neitJier  was  I  a  prophet's  son  ;  but  1  was  an  herdman  and  a  gatherer 
of  sycamore  fruit  ; 

And  the  Lord  took  me  as  I  followed  the  flock,  and  tlie  Lord  said 
unto  me,  Oo,  prophesy  unto  my  people  Israel. — Amos  vii.  12-15. 

The  more  one  studies  the  Bible,  not  through 
the  gloss  of  tradition,  but  through  the  medium 
of  personal  experience,  the  more  is  he  impressed 
with  its  wonderf  ulness  and  truth.  It  not  only- 
reveals  Grod  so  admirably,  it  reveals  us  so  fully, 
the  deep  and  strong  passions  which  are  work- 
ing in  us  good,  bad,  and  mixed ;  the  subtle  tend- 
encies in  us  toward  subterfuge  and  sham  and 
self-deception,  or  the  nobler  and  worthier  quali- 
ties which  at  times  we  exhibit.  It  opens  us  up 
and  portrays  us,  as  Coleridge  says — it  finds  us, 
brings  us  out  from  our  hiding  places,  and  makes 
us  see  ourselves. 

I  want  to  call  your  attention  at  present  to  that 
little  view  of  ourselves  which  like  a  mirror  the 

226 


THE   MAN   AND   THE   PRIEST.  227 

words  of  the  text  disclose,  to  sliow  you  tliat  tlie 
two  persons  mentioned  in  the  text  may  be  found 
if  we  look  for  them,  under  different  names  in 
human  life  to-day.  Who  were  they  ?  Let  us  see. 
Amaziah  was  a  priest ;  Amos  was  a  man  ;  an 
inspired  man,  to  be  sure,  and  in  that  sense  a 
prophet,  but  he  was  not  a  prophet  by  profession, 
did  not  belong  to  one  of  the  regularly  appointed 
schools  of  the  prophets,  had  not  received  his 
training  and  his  commission  there.  And  that,  to 
the  priest,  was  reason  enough  for  refusing  to 
recognize  him.  He  had  no  rank  and  title,  no  offi- 
cial standing,  and  the  man,  the  mere  man,  to  the 
priest  was  obnoxious,  was  regarded  by  him  as 
presumptuous,  and  he  plainly  told  him  so,  and 
said,  "  Go  back  to  Judah,  where  you  belong, 
you  mere  man,  herdsman,  shepherd  of  Tekoa, 
gatherer  of  sycamore  fruits — go  back  to  Judah 
where  you  belong,  and  do  not  come  here  into 
Israel  meddling  with  our  affairs,  entering  into 
the  very  palace  of  my  master,  whose  court  chap- 
lain I  am,  and  speaking  words  against  him." 
And  like  another  distinguished  statesman-priest 
of  a  later  day,  he  drew  the  magic  circle  of 
his  office,  not  around  himself,  but  around  the 
throne,  and  said,  "  Tliis  is  the  king's  court,  this 
is  the  king's  sanctuary;  go,  oh,  thou  seer,  into 


228  THE   MAN"   AND   THE   PEIEST. 

the  land  of  Judali,  and  there  eat  bread  and 
prophesy,  but  proj)hesy  not  here  at  Bethel  in 
Israel  any  more." 

Amos  did  not  go,  but  continued  to  eat  his 
bread  and  prophesy  in  Israel,  but  with  his  sub- 
sequent ministry  there  I  am  not  at  present  con- 
cerned. I  simj)ly  wish  you  to  observe  that  these 
two  persons  represent  two  different  types  of  char- 
acter, two  different  kinds  of  influence,  or  rather 
two  different  kinds  of  human  tendency,  which 
are  not  only  seen  in  Israel  but  throughout  all 
human  life,  and  which  now  as  then  are  so  often 
seen  in  conflict.  The  first  is  the  tendency  toward 
what  may  be  designated  as  oflficialism — toward 
the  love  of  name  and  rank  and  title  and  station 
in  the  Church,  in  the  state,  in  society  generally. 
It  is  a  very  strong  tendency  ;  and  it  works  more 
or  less  in  all  of  us.  Even  here  in  America  where 
feudalistic  rank  has  been  repudiated  and  feud- 
alistic  nomenclature  discarded,  and  where  our 
ways  and  methods  are  supposed  to  be  of  a  more 
popular  character ;  where  a  man  is  supposed  to 
be  measured  and  judged  by  the  standard  of 
personal  worth,  even  here  we  feel  it.  For  it  is 
not  simply  a  tendency  inherent  in  the  old  feudal- 
istic regime;  it  is  a  tendency  inherent  and  assert- 
ive in  human  nature — this  tendency,  I  mean,  to 


THE   MAN   AND   THE   PIHEST.  229 

defer  not  so  much  to  the  influence  of  wliat  people 
are  as  the  influence  of  where  they  are  and  the 
positions  which  they  occupy  and  the  names  by 
which  they  are  called. 

Yes,  we  have  repudiated  feudalism  in  America, 
but  we  have  not  repudiated  human  nature,  and 
human  nature  is  strong.  It  is  stronger  than 
governmental  institutions  and  legislative  de- 
crees and  enactments.  It  will  assert  itself ; 
and  with  a  strange  and  curious  kind  of  contra- 
dictoriness  it  will  sometimes  assert  itself  more 
fully  and  emphatically  when  the  attempt  is 
made  to  rei)ress  it.  Now  as  of  old,  the  prohib- 
ited thing  is  the  thing  desired  ;  what  is  denied 
in  one  way  is  sought  after  in  another.  So  it  is  in 
America.  I  sometimes  think  there  is  no  country 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  where  men  love  rank  and 
title  more  than  they  do  in  America.  They  say 
that  they  do  not,  but  their  conduct  is  so  often 
at  variance  with  their  speech. 

Look,  for  instance,  at  the  profuse  conferring 
of  honorary  degrees  in  America  by  our  schools 
and  colleges  and  institutions  of  learning,  and 
some  of  them,  too,  not  of  a  very  high  order. 
And  why  is  it  ?  It  must  be  because  the  people 
of  America  love,  not  the  rare  learning,  not 
the  high  scholarship,  which  the  degrees  repre- 


230  THE   MAN   AND   THE   PRIEST. 

sent,  or  ought  to  represent,  but  simply  the  mere 
degrees,  terms,  titles,  names,  and  the  poor  and 
empty  honor  which  they  confer.  And  how  poor 
and  empty  it  is,  and  how  little  does  it  mean ! 
In  the  Church  of  England  if  a  man  receives 
the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  it 
means  as  a  rule  that  he  has  done  something  to 
deserve  it.  In  America,  however,  it  does  not  al- 
ways mean  that  he  has  done  something  to  deserve 
it ;  it  simply  means  so  often  that  he  has  come  to  be 
about  forty  years  old.  But  it  is  not  only  in  the 
ecclesiastical  world  that  we  see  it ;  we  see  it  in 
the  social  and  political  world.  What  a  glamour 
there  is  in  mere  office  to  an  American  !  What  a 
race  of  office-seekers  we  are  fast  becoming  !  And 
why  ?  Not  always  because  we  are  so  anxious  to 
perform,  and  think  we  are  so  capable  of  perform- 
ing, the  duties  appertaining  to  the  office ;  not 
always  either  because  of  the  direct  and  indirect 
pecuniary  emoluments  which  the  office  gives  and 
controls,  for  the  same  or  greater  emoluments 
might  be  found  as  easily  in  other  spheres  of  con- 
duct ;  but  because  the  office  itself  flatters  so 
sweetly,  so  delicately,  the  instinct  for  name  and 
title  in  us,  and  gives  a  kind  of  social  rank  and 
standing  to  us,  not  otherwise  in  America  so  easily 
to  be  had.     We  do  not  have  that  kind  of  great- 


THE   MAN    AND   THE   PIIIEST.  231 

ness  thrust  upon  us  by  our  ancestors  in  America. 
We  are  not  born  into  it,  or  with  it,  or  not  so 
much  at  least  as  in  other  and  older  and  more 
feudalistic  countries.  Nevertheless  we  are  very 
human  in  America,  and  this  tendency  toward 
what  I  call  officialism  is  a  very  human  tendency. 

'Now  I  am  not  deprecating  all  this ;  still  less 
am  I  denouncing  it ;  I  am  not  saying  that  it  is  all 
bad  and  wrong  ;  I  am  only  saying  how  prevalent 
it  is  even  here  and  now,  and  in  our  time  and 
country,  as  in  the  time  of  the  priest  Amaziah. 
This  tendency  of  deference  toward  mere  rank 
and  title,  how  strongly  we  feel  it,  how  eagerly 
we  covet  it,  how  imj)eriously  we  try  to  use  it  at 
times,  and  how,  like  the  old  j)riest  at  Bethel,  we 
draw  the  circle  with  it,  and  say  to  those  who 
have  it  not,  "Begone  ;  you  are  not  of  us  !  " 

It  may,  I  say,  be  innocent  enough,  it  may  do 
no  harm  either  to  us  or  to  others,  if  we  properly 
guard  and  fend  it ;  if  it  does  not  make  us  ignore 
those  deeper  and  sacreder  ties  which  bind  us 
all  together ;  if  it  does  not  make  us  forget  that 
while  we  may  desire  legitimately  enough  to  be 
priests,  high  priests  in  society,  in  the  Church, 
in  that  accredited  liierarchical  rank  which  has 
always  existed  in  the  social,  political,  and 
ecclesiastical  world,  and  always  will  exist,  our 


232  THE   MAN    AND   THE   PRIEST. 

first  and  proper  aim  slioulcl  not  be  to  be  j)riests, 
but  to  be  men  ;  that  a  liigli  manhood  is  always 
more— immeasurably,  incomparably  more — than 
the  highest  kind  of  priesthood. 

And  here  is  the  other  tendency  which  we 
find  in  human  life,  and  which  Amos  represents. 
The  instinct  for  rank,  and  ofiice,  may  be  a  very 
human  instinct,  but  the  other  is  also  human  ; 
and  there  is  no  greater  word  that  can  be  spoken 
of  any  man  or  of  any  w^oman  than  that  he  has 
done  some  manly  or  she  some  womanly  thing. 
All  the  commendatory  adjectives  of  the  language 
are  included  in  that  term,  and  ^ve  feel  that  there 
is  no  higher  attainment  which  we  can  reach  in 
this  world  than  simply  to  have  deserved  it.  And 
how  the  admiration  goes  freely  and  spontaneously 
forth  toward  one  who  has  deserved  it ;  who,  like 
the  young  son  of  Jesse  the  Bethlehemite,  wdien 
Saul  would  place  his  armor  on  him,  has  put  it  all 
aside,  and  shaking  himself  free  and  lifting  him- 
self up  to  the  full  stature  of  his  manhood,  with- 
out the  sword  of  the  state,  without  the  weapon  of 
the  Church,  without  social  sanction  and  commis- 
sion, but  with  simple,  manly  courage  as  his 
only  equipment,  has  gone  and  faced  and  dis- 
comfited and  conquered  some  formidable  Philis- 
tine foe. 


THE   MAN    AND    THE   PrJIvST,  233 

The  story  of  human  life  has  many  such  in- 
stances in  it,  nor  are  they  wanting  to-day. 
Every  now  and  then  we  encounter  them,  and  to 
our  surprise  where  we  least  expect  to  find  them. 
We  read  about  them  in  the  newspapers,  or  some- 
one tells  us  about  them,  we  see  them,  we  hear  of 
them — some  sweet,  courageous,  womanly  act, 
some  strong  and  manly  deed,  some  going  into 
danger  and  peril,  some  running  of  risk  for 
others.  "What  if  I  do  die?"  said  Sister 
Dora,  when  her  friends  told  lier  not  to  go  down 
into  the  infected  ward  of  the  hospital  to  min- 
ister to  the  patients  there,  "what  if  I  do  die? 
Death  is  not  bad  ;  it  only  ha^jpens  once  and  it  is 
sure  to  happen  once  ;  and  these  poor  creatures 
need  me."  When  we  hear  of  such  things  as 
these,  how  admirable  do  they  seem,  and  how 
much  worthier  and  nobler  does  this  other  tend- 
ency which  we  find  in  human  life  aj^pear  ! 

Now,  it  is  just  this  human  tendency,  it  is 
just  this  human  instinct  to  which  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  appeals,  which  it  seeks  more  and 
more  to  awaken  and  strengthen  in  us.  Have 
I  forgotten  that  this  is  Advent  Sunday  and 
that  I  ought  to  be  speaking  this  morning 
about  that  great  and  memorable  event,  which 
at  the  time  of  its  hajDpening,  now  nearly  two 


234  THE   MAN   AND   THE   PUIEST, 

thousand  years  ago,  seemed  to  be  of  such  little 
moment,  but  which  has  actually  proved  itself  to 
be  the  turning  point,  the  point  of  a  new  and 
radical  departure  in  the  history  of  mankind  ? 
No,  I  have  not  forgotten  it,  and  I  am  speaking 
about  it,  for  what  did  Jesus  Christ  come  into  the 
world  to  do  ?  Many  things  indeed,  and  the  pur- 
pose of  his  advent  may  be  described  in  many 
ways,  and  all  of  them  may  be  true.  He  came  to 
die  for  us,  to  redeem  us,  to  save  us  from  our 
sins,  to  guide  and  help  and  comfort  us,  to 
establish  on  earth  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
to  make  us  members  of  it.  And  yet  it  seems 
to  me  it  may  be  all  summed  up  in  this :  that 
he  came  to  touch  and  liberate  and  consummate 
the  deepest  and  the  truest  humanity  in  us, 
came  to  build  up  manhood,  came  to  make  us 
men.  To  save  our  souls  ?  Yes.  To  make  us 
Christians  ?  Yes.  But  we  save  our  souls  and 
become  Christians  not  by  becoming  anything 
else  or  less  or  more  than  human,  but  by  becom- 
ing human,  up  to  the  highest  pitch  and  reach  of 
human  stature  and  attainment.  The  qualities 
which  he  develops  are  most  human  qualities. 
The  strengths  which  he  creates,  the  virtues  which 
he  produces,  are  human  strengths  and  virtues, 
and  the  greatness  to  which  he  would  lead  us  on, 


THE   MAN   AND   THE   PRIEST.  235 

and  the  glory  with  which  he  would  crown  us,  is, 
after  all,  but  the  glory  to  which  with  deepest, 
truest  instinct  our  human  hearts  aspire. 

And  how  does  he  do  it?  Our  way,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  very  often  to  say  to  a  man,  If  you 
want  to  be  good  and  great,  go  to  the  priest  ; 
let  him  make  you  good,  let  him  make  you 
great — not  to  the  priest  in  the  ecclesiastical 
world  perhaps,  but  in  the  political  or  the  social 
world  ;  go  to  some  high  priest  who  holds  the 
keys  of  entrance  into  that  coveted  world,  who 
can  open  the  door  and  admit  you  and  give  you 
name  and  rank  and  opportunity  there.  Or  we 
say,  go  and  try  to  be  a  priest,  to  occupy  place  and 
position,  where  you  can  yourself  dispense  and 
distribute  privileges,  and  where  by  reason  of  your 
titular  rank  and  standing  you  can  have  power 
and  exert  influence  and  receive  homage,  and  in 
that  manner  gratify  the  human  instinct  in  you. 

No,  says  Jesus  Christ,  go  to  God,  directly 
from  where  you  are,  and  let  his  spirit  inspire 
you.  You  build  up  barriers,  he  seemed  to  say 
to  the  men  of  his  day,  between  yourselves  and 
God.  You  have  your  outer  and  your  inner 
courts,  and  your  holy  of  holies,  into  which  only 
the  priest  may  occasionally  venture  to  go ;  and 
you  have  kept  yourselves  at  a  distance  from 


236  THE   MAN   AND   THE   PRIEST. 

God,  or  you  have  thought  that  he  was  distant 
and  far  away  from  you.  But  it  is  not  true,  he 
says  ;  there  are  no  barriers  between  you  and  God, 
and  you  and  greatness,  and  you  and  manhood. 
He  is  around  you,  near  you,  in  you,  in  every  one 
of  you — the  publican,  the  Magdalen,  the  outcast, 
the  sinner,  even  the  little  child — let  the  spirit  of 
God  inspire  you.  Let  it  grow  and  blossom  in 
you  and  bring  forth  fruit  within  you  ;  let  it 
touch  the  manhood  in  you  and  make  it  greater 
and  more  —  not  more  than  human,  but  more 
human,  and  having  more  human  power,  because 
it  is  a  manhood  that  rests  and  builds  upon  and 
is  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  God. 

That,  my  friends,  it  seems  to  me,  comprehen- 
sively stated,  was  the  purpose  of  the  advent,  of 
the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ — not  primarily  to 
make  and  send  forth  priests  of  one  kind  and 
another,  but  to  make  and  to  send  forth  men, 
and  to  make  them  great  and  strong.  And  his 
method  was  to  teach  that  men  are  great  and 
strong  only  when  they  are  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  God,  when  they  receive  their  inspiration 
not  from  below  but  from  above,  and  when  they 
hear  in  their  hearts  that  voice  of  God  which  all 
might  hear  if  they  would. 

That  is  the  power,  the  power  of  an  inspired 


THE   MAN   AND   THE   PRIEST.  237 

manliood  wliicli  was  needed  then,  wliich  is 
needed  now,  wliich  is  always  needed  in  doing 
the  work  of  the  world.  We  speak  of  the  old 
prophets  as  having  been  inspired.  So  they 
were,  so  they  were  ;  it  was  that  that  made  them 
prophets  ;  but  "would  God  that  all  the  Lord's 
people  were  prophets";  that  they  too  might  be 
inspired,  to  see  large  things,  to  do  large  works, 
to  outline  great  opportunities,  and  to  carry  out 
the  good  impulses  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
awakens.  For  what  is  a  proj)het  but  an  in- 
spired man?  and  God,  the  living  God,  has  not 
ceased  to  insx)ire  men,  and  his  spirit  is  in  the 
world  to-day  as  it  was  in  the  world  of  old  ! 

May  that  spirit  come  and  insj)ire  you  and  me  ! 
May  it  touch,  help,  guide,  strengthen  us  in  our 
weakness,  give  us  light  in  our  darkness,  and 
hope  in  the  cloudy  day !  May  it  come  and 
breathe  like  sweet  music  over  the  many  chords 
of  our  varied  human  experience,  and  so  sing 
and  waft  us  on  to  that  consummation  of  a  high 
and  true  manhood,  to  wliich  our  hearts  aspire, 
and  which  alone  will  last  when  everything  else 
is  gone  ;  singing  and  wafting  us  on  to  that  haven 
where  we  would  be,  where  character  is  the  rule, 
character  is  the  standard,  character  draws  the 
circle,  and  where  the  man  is  more  than  the  priest ! 


VISIONS. 

Where  tTiere  is  no  vision,  tJie  people  perish. — Proverbs  xxix.  18. 

You  must  have  noticed  in  reading  the  Bible 
how  much  there  is  in  it  about  "visions,"  and 
how  often  it  is  taught,  by  implication  at  least,  if 
not  by  direct  statement,  that  men  are  dependent 
upon  visions.  Tlie  words  of  the  text  therefore 
are  but  the  positive  assertion  of  what  the  whole 
Bible  seems  to  teach  :  that  every  human  life,  in 
order  to  fulfill  itself  and  be  successful  in  the 
best  and  highest  sense,  must  have  some  bright, 
ennobling  vision  before  it,  and  that  "where 
there  is  no  vision  the  people  perish." 

My  subject  this  morning  is  this :  "The  great- 
est benefactor  of  the  human  race  is  the  man  who 
gives  the  noblest  visions  to  it." 

And  first,  let  me  speak  of  the  world's  indebt- 
edness to  its  visionaries.  I  know  that  the  word 
"visionary"  has  fallen  into  bad  rex)ute,  that  it 
is  often  used  as  a  term  of  rejproach,  and  that 
we  frequently  say  of  a  person  who  is  wanting  in 
practical  Judgment,  in  common  sense,  that  he  is 
a  "visionary."     And  yet,   although  some  per- 


VISIONS.  239 

sons  have  false,  foolish,  and  unattainable  vi- 
sions, it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  there  is 
another  sense  in  which  to  be  a  "visionary"  is  a 
mark  of  jDower.  Other  things  being  equal,  that 
man  will  be  the  best  equi^^ped  in  this  world, 
will  have  the  greatest  strength,  will  exhibit  the 
finest  courage,  will  do  the  noblest  and  most 
enduring  work,  will  be  the  greatest  man,  to 
whom  the  best  and  brightest  visions  come.  The 
men  who  have  reached  the  higher  forms  of 
knowledge,  and  have  given  to  the  world  the 
most  ennobling  truths,  are  men  to  whom  the 
power  of  seeing  visions  was  given.  For  knowl- 
edge, in  its  higher  forms,  is  not  reached  by  logic 
or  demonstration.  These  are  mental  processes 
that  can  carry  us  up  only  to  a  certain  point,  and 
if  we  knew  only  what  we  could  demonstrate  by 
a  mathematical  theorem,  or  prove  by  a  logical 
syllogism,  the  field  of  our  knowledge  would  be 
a  very  contracted  one. 

But  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  not  so  contracted. 
The  men  to  whom  the  noblest  and  purest 
thoughts  have  come,  by  whom  the  largest  and 
most  enlarging  i^rinciples  have  been  appre- 
hended, and  into  whose  minds  the  deepest 
secrets  of  the  universe  have  been  whispered  are 
men  who  have  gone  beyond  the  limits  of  the 


240  VISIONS. 

logical  method,  or  of  their  own  practical  expe- 
rience, or  of  the  practical  exj^erience  of  the 
world  at  large,  and  to  whom,  as  to  the  prophets 
of  old,  the  power  of  "seeing  visions "  was  given. 
Professor  Tyndall  has  published  an  interesting 
little  essay  on  what  he  calls  "The  Scientific  Use 
of  the  Imagination,"  the  aim  of  which  is  to  show 
how  necessary  the  imagination  is,  even  in  the 
study  of  the  physical  nniverse.  While  the 
reason,  he  tells  us,  by  itself  and  apart  from  the 
imagination,  can  make  but  little  headway,  the 
reason  in  connection  with  the  imagination  is 
the  mightiest  agent  in  the  discovery  of  physi- 
cal truth.  It  was  by  his  imagination,  operating 
upon  the  simj^le  phenomenon  which  he  observed, 
that  Newton  was  led  to  unravel  the  mechanism 
of  the  heavens.  It  was  by  his  imagination  that 
the  eye  of  Galileo,  looking  through  his  tele- 
scope, saw  an  infinite  space  peopled  with  an 
infinite  number  of  worlds  like  our  own.  It  was 
by  his  imagination,  operating  upon  the  facts 
published  by  Mai  thus  in  his  "Essay  on  Popu- 
lation," that  there  was  suggested  to  the  mind 
of  Charles  Darwin  that  principle  of  "natural 
selection"  which  he  seemed  to  see,  as  in  a 
vision,  running  through  all  life,  extending 
through  all  nature,  and  gr'^^n^-  the  clew  to* the 


VISIONS.  241 

endless  diversities  of  animals  and  of  plants. 
But  what  is  all  that  but  another,  more  conven- 
tional, and  not  perhaps  so  accurate  a  way  of 
saying  that  these  were  men  to  whom  something 
of  the  old  prophetic  power  of  "  seeing  visions  " 
was  given,  in  whom,  in  the  best  sense  of  the 
word,  there  was  something  of  the  visionary — 
who  by  their  visions  were  lifted  up  into  larger 
life,  and  by  their  visions  have  lifted  the  world 
after  them. 

If,  then,  it  be  true  that  the  man  who  is  want- 
ing in  common  sense,  and  is  following  after 
foolish  and  unattainable  visions,  and  whom  we 
designate  as  a  visionary,  is  not  fit  for  the  duties 
of  this  world,  it  is  equally  true,  I  believe  it  is 
more  true,  that  that  man  is  not  fit  for  the  du- 
ties of  this  world,  its  highest  achievement,  its 
noblest  work,  the  discovery  of  its  greatest 
truths,  the  daily  carrying  out  of  its  highest  and 
noblest  principles,  to  whom  no  visions  come. 
In  the  midst  of  error  he  sees  no  vision  of  truth. 
In  the  midst  of  wrong  he  sees  no  vision  of 
right.  In  the  midst  of  confusion  he  sees  no 
vision  of  order.  In  the  midst  of  sin  and  sor- 
row he  sees  no  vision  of  holiness  and  peace.  He 
cannot  look,  poor  little  man,  beyond  what  has 
been  already  done,  or  what  has  been  already 


242  VISIONS. 

attained,  either  by  himself  or  the  world  at  large, 
to  something  better  still  to  come,  something 
brighter  and  more  beautiful  yet  to  make  its 
appearance  upon  this  earth,  and  his  life,  in 
consequence,  has  no  high  and  strong  and  gener- 
ous inspiration  to  it.  Such  a  man  is  not  fit  for 
the  duties  of  this  world.  His  life  becomes  more 
and  more  insipid,  dreary,  weary,  and  common- 
place as  the  years  go  by.  He  has  no  courage  to 
sustain  him  when  the  dark  hour  comes.  He  has 
nothing  to  gladden  his  daily,  monotonous  routine 
and  make  it  joyous  and  bright,  nothing  to  keej) 
him  "forging  ahead,"  with  an  indomitable  will, 
with  an  invincible  courage,  in  the  face  of  dis- 
aster and  difficulty,  and  ambition  flags,  hope 
droops,  love  weakens,  faith  departs,  and  enthu- 
siasm dies.  I  say  that  such  a  man  is  not  fit  for 
the  duties  of  this  world  ;  the  best  possibilities  of 
his  existence  he  can  never  realize  ;  and  truly,  as 
the  wise  man  has  said,  "  where  there  is  no  vision 
the  peo^^le  perish." 

I  cannot  imagine  anyone,  then,  to  whom  we 
owe  a  greater  debt,  who  can  be  of  greater  assist- 
ance to  us  than  the  man  who  in  the  midst  of 
this  hard,  practical,  sorrowing,  sinning,  work- 
a-day  world,  can  give  us  the  bright  vision 
of  some  other  world.      I   cannot  imagine  any- 


VISIONS.  243 

one  who  can  help  us  more  than  the  man  who 
in  the  midst  of  the  trite  and  commonplace 
truths  upon  which  we  have  been  feeding  until 
we  have  taken  all  the  nourishment  out  of 
them,  can  come  to  us  with  the  quickening  and 
inspiring  vision  of  some  larger  truth,  or  who  in 
the  midst  of  the  darkness  and  the  dreariness, 
at  times,  of  our  human  life,  can  keep  the  bright, 
unfading  vision  before  us  of  some  higher  and 
more  ennobling  life.  Such  a  man  will  always  be 
the  greatest  of  our  benefactors.  The  world  has 
always  needed  such  a  man.  It  needs  such  a 
man  to-day. 

Now,  in  my  office  of  Christian  preacher,  I 
have  no  words  of  disx)aragement  for  those  men 
who  by  other  than  religious  processes,  in  the 
usual  construction  of  that  term,  have  given 
so  muck  brightness,  so  much  enlargement  to 
the  scope  of  human  life :  poets,  philosophers, 
artists,  statesmen,  astronomers,  scientists,  politi- 
cal economists — the  great  and  gifted  men  in  all 
lines  of  human  pursuit  and  endeavor,  through 
whom  some  comfort  and  beauty  and  light 
and  wisdom  have  come  into  human  life,  and  to 
whom  the  I30wer  of  seeing  visions  was  given. 
These  men,  too,  are  our  benefactors.  Every 
man  is  our  benefactor  who  by  any  means,  to  any 


244  VISIONS. 

extent,  can  part  tlie  clouds  above  us  and  let 
some  new  glory  in  upon  human  life.  But 
among  all  such  benefactors,  and  easily  chief 
i^mong  them  stands,  and  will  forever  stand, 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Let  us  look  for  a  few 
moments  at  some  of  the  bright  and  enduring 
visions  which  he  has  given  us. 

He  has  given  us  the  noblest  vision  of  right- 
eousness— not  righteousness  for  a  particular  time 
or  place,  but  righteousness  for  everywhere,  for 
always  and  for  all,  and  which  we  feel  instinct- 
ively to  be  the  righteousness  of  God.  Is  it 
not  so? 

"To  the  great  majority  of  persons,"  said  the 
late  Cardinal  Newman,  "who  look  out  upon  this 
world,  all  that  they  find  there  meets  their 
mind's  eye  very  much  as  a  landscape  addresses 
itself  for  the  first  time  to  a  person  who  has  just 
gained  his  bodily  vision.  It  is  all  confusion ; 
one  thing  is  as  far  off  as  another  ;  there  is  no 
law,  no  order,  no  harmony,  no  perspective  in 
it," 

Now  and  then,  however,  he  might  have  added, 
persons  have  appeared  on  this  earthly  plane 
who  have  been  able  to  see  running  through  all 
this  tangled  mass  of  apparent  disorder  the  great 
pervading,  binding  lines  of  everlasting  law. 


VISIONS.  245 

Wliat  some  men  have  done  in  tliis  respect 
for  jurisprudence,  what  some  have  done  in  this 
respect  for  astronomy  and  for  science,  tov^^ering 
far  above  these  splendid  and  ever  memorable 
tasks  is  the  w^ork  done  for  righteousness  by 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  took  hold  of  the  vast 
tangled  mass  of  casuistry  and  Pharisaic  tra- 
dition, which  had  become  so  deeply  rooted  in  the 
popular  mind  of  his  day :  he  touched  it  and  it 
shriveled,  its  meretricious  beauty  faded,  and  from 
the  ashes  he  picked  up  a  few  pearls  of  great 
price  that  were  worth  preserving,  and  put  them 
upon  his  own  brow  to  shine  there  forever. 
From  all  the  testimony  of  the  past,  laying  aside 
and  rejecting  what  was  not  according  to  eternal 
right,  he  brought  out,  not  only  for  that  day, 
but  for  this  day,  for  every  day,  till  the  last  day 
comes,  great  flashing  principles,  high  as  heaven, 
deep  as  hades,  simple  as  a  little  child,  on  which 
he  made  all  the  law  and  all  the  prophets 
to  rest.  From  the  massive  and  cumbersome 
conventionalism  of  religious  customs  and  social 
traditions  and  precepts  of  the  elders,  he 
brought  out  those  principles  of  a  true  righteous- 
ness, which  lie  to-day  and  will  continue  to  lie 
at  the  base  of  all  our  benches  of  justice,  all  our 
social   relations,  all    our  national    development 


246  VISIONS. 

and  prosperity,  all  our  domestic  purity,  all  oui 
individual  nobleness,  which  the  world  never  dis- 
putes, never  dreams  of  disputing,  however  much 
it  may  be  tempted  practically  to  disobey  them, 
and  to  which  it  is  forever  making  its  solemn 
appeal,  and  carrying  up  its  great  case  in  equity, 
as  into  its  ultimate  court,  as  into  the  court  of  God. 

But  not  only  has  Jesas  of  Nazareth  given  us 
the  purest  vision  of  righteousness,  he  has  also 
given  us  the  noblest  and  most  appealing  vision 
of  love.  Is  not  that  the  meaning  of  his  Cross 
and  passion  ?  The  agony  in  the  Garden,  the 
great  drops  of  bloody  sweat,  the  scourging,  the 
mocking,  the  Crucifixion  itself,  the  darkness  over 
the  land,  the  great  heart-breaking  cry  sounding 
out  through  the  darkness — why  does  it  touch  our 
hearts  so  much?  Why  has  it  so  profoundly 
touched  the  heart  of  the  world?  Why  has  it 
alwaj^s  been  such  a  power  and  is  it  such  a  power 
to-day,  that  the  strongest  and  stoutest  manhood 
has  been  bowed  in  submission  as  a  little  child  be- 
fore it ;  that  the  weakest  and  timidest  womanhood 
has  been  emboldened  by  it ;  that  the  Magdalene 
has  been  purified;  that  the  drunkard  has 
been  reformed,    and  the    mourner    comforted  ? 

Oh,  who  is  gifted  enough,  whose  voice  is  sweet 
enough  to  tell  the  story  of  the  triumph  of  the 


VISIONS.  247 

cross  of  Christ  thronghout  all  the  ages  ?  Sweeter 
than  the  music  of  the  sweetest  singer  of  the 
world,  stronger  than  the  eloquence  of  the  most 
gifted  orator,  more  than  all  the  dogmatic  teach- 
ing of  the  churches,  the  philosophies  of  the 
schools,  the  laws  and  statutes  of  the  strongest 
state,  has  been  the  conquering,  strengthening, 
healing,  peace-impartinig  power  of  the  cross  of 
Christ.  And  why  %  Because  it  is  the  manifesta- 
tion somehow — explain  it  as  men  may — of  the 
love  of  the  eternal  God,  and  has  always  been 
felt  to  be  so. 

Again,  Jesus  Christ  gives  us  not  only  the 
noblest  vision  of  God,  his  righteousness  and  his 
love,  but  also  the  noblest  and  most  helpful 
vision  of  ourselves.  He  does  not  come  telling 
us  what  weak,  miserable,  wretched  creatures  we 
are.  We  know  it,  and  the  knowledge  does  not 
help  us  any.  He  simply  allows  us,  in  himself, 
a  more  glorious  vision  of  human  life,  and  as  we 
look  upon  that  more  glorious  vision  of  human 
life,  its  glory  passes  a  little  into  us.  We  do  in 
some  measure  forsake  our  sins.  Their  dominion 
over  us  is  in  some  measure  broken,  not  because 
we  are  looking  at  our  sins  and  seeing  how  ugly 
and  how  degrading  they  are,  but  because  we  are 
looking  at  the  vision  of  Christ  and  seeing  how 


248  VISIONS. 

glorious  lie  was,  in  whom  there  was  no  sin.  We 
do  in  some  measure  learn  to  be  brave  and  patient 
under  the  provocations  and  the  annoyances  and 
the  burdens  and  trials  of  life,  not  because  we  are 
trying  to  be  brave  and  patient  under  them, — we 
have  tried  over  and  over  again  and  have  not  suc- 
ceeded,— but  because  we  are  looking  at  that 
brave  and  patient  One,  who,  in  the  midst  of 
trials,  discouragements,  desertions,  denials  such 
as  no  man  ever  experienced,  has  yet  exhibited  a 
grandeur  and  a  glory  of  character  in  connection 
with  them  such  as  no  one  else  has  ever  dis- 
played. We  have  in  some  measure  parted  with 
the  fear  and  dread  of  death,  not  because  our 
physical  dissolution  is  any  the  less  revolting 
to  us  when  we  come  to  think  about  it ;  not 
because  the  grave  and  the  tomb  are  any  the  less 
loathsome  to  us  ;  not  because  to  leave  behind 
those  we  love  is  any  the  less  distressing  to  us,  but 
because  in  looking  back  over  the  history  of  the 
past  we  see  the  bright  vision  of  a  victory  over 
death,  and  take  to  our  hearts  the  hope  that 
death  is  but  the  birth-throe  into  a  more  abun- 
dant life.  And  so  as  we  look  at  that  vision  its 
glory  passes  into  and  transfigures  us. 

Yes,  and  more  than  that,  for  not  only  does  it 
transfigure  us,  but  it  somehow  seems  to  trans- 


VISIONS.  249 

figure  all  the  people  about  us  ;  and  back  of  the 
mask  of  the  sinner  and  behind  the  veil  of  his 
wretch jdness  and  his  sin,  looking  through  the 
vision  of  Christ,  we  can  see  the  glory  of  God. 
All  human  life  has  a  new  significance  for  us. 
We  read  its  story  over  again.  We  see  new 
meaning,  new  promise  in  it.  In  no  case  must  it 
be  despised.  In  no  case  must  we  despair  of  it. 
Jesus  Christ  has  taught  us  the  transcendent 
value  and  greatness  of  human  life,  even  in  its 
feeblest  and  most  degraded  forms.  Therefore 
we  must  care  for  it,  love  it,  shelter  it,  do 
the  best  things  for  it,  hope  the  best  things 
from  it.  And  so,  in  the  light  of  the  vision 
of  Christ,  moving  along  the  dark  pathway 
of  the  centuries,  the  churches  have  come,  and 
the  hospitals  have  come,  and  the  nurseries  have 
come,  and  the  homes  for  the  poor,  sick,  aged, 
crippled,  and  infirm,  and  even  for  the  little  chil- 
dren, have  come — who,  except  for  that  vision  of 
Christ  and  for  what  it  has  moved  men  to  do, 
would  have  been  left  alone  and  would  have 
perished  long  ago. 

Then  from  this  vision  of  God,  his  righteous- 
ness and  his  love,  and  from  this  vision  of  man 
and  the  glory  latent  in  him,  there  comes  the 
brightest  vision  of  the  future  of  human  life  on 


250  VISIONS. 

the  eartli.  Sometimes  as  we  look  out  on  human 
life  and  see  the  moral  disorders  that  are  prev- 
alent there,  we  think  in  our  hearts  that  the 
world  at  large  is  making  but  little  i:>rogress  in 
truth  and  goodness — XDerhaj^s  no  progress  at 
all.  It  seems  to  be  going  backward  and  i)eri- 
lous  times  are  at  hand.  This  is  a  view  of 
human  life  that  one  is  apt  to  take  as  he  gets 
older,  and  his  thoughts  concerning  the  future  are 
not  so  roseate  in  his  later  as  in  his  earlier  days  ; 
The  "  Locksley  Hall"  of  the  poet's  younger 
manhood,  so  full  of  promise  and  cheery  hope  for 
the  future,  is  not  the  "Locksley  Hall"  of  the 
poet's  age — with  so  much  sadness  and  so  much 
bitterness  and  so  much  misgiving  in  it.  But  in 
the  light  of  the  vision  of  Christ  there  is  no  room 
for  misgiving.  The  earlier  poem  is  the  truer  ; 
and  in  response  to  the  cry  that  goes  up,  "  Watch- 
man, what  of  the  night?"  we  can  always  say, 
"Behold!  the  morning  cometh."  Seeing  that, 
we  can  go  on  into  the  future  with  unfaltering 
courage  and  in  spite  of  everything,  with  an 
undismayed  hope.  We  preach  whether  men  hear 
or  whether  men  forbear,  because  we  know  the 
time  is  coming  when  the  kingdoms  of  this  world 
will  become  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  Man  ;  all 
nations  will  belong  to  it,  all  peoples  will  be  part 


VISIONS.  251 

of  it,  all  languages  will  be  lieard  in  it.  "Ilis 
dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion  that  shall 
not  pass  away."  But  except  for  that  vision 
of  Christ,  we  cannot  preach,  we  cannot  work,  we 
cannot  give,  we  have  no  heart  for  anything,  and 
our  thoughts  for  the  future  perish. 

May  God  keep  that  vision  before  us  as  a  pillar 
of  cloud  by  day  and  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night,  and 
when  the  darkness  comes  and  doubts  gather  and 
bewilderments  multiply,  like  the  disciples  on 
Tabor,  may  we  lift  up  our  eyes  and  see  no  man 
save  "Jesus  only." 


CHRIST  GREATER  THAN  OUR  THOUGHT 
OF  HIM. 

But  we  trusted  that  it  liad  been  Tie  which  should  have  redeemed 
Israel. — St.  Luke,  xxiv.  21. 

It  is  the  third  day  after  the  crucifixion  of 
Christ,  and  the  hopes  of  his  disciples  have  been 
cast  down  and  their  hearts  much  depressed  by 
the  sad  event.  They  had  been  in  a  measure 
prepared  for  it,  it  is  true,  and  yet  after  all 
they  were  not  prepared.  They  thought,  appar- 
ently, that  at  the  last  moment  and  when  the 
crisis  came,  instead  of  quietly  submitting  to  his 
enemies  he  would  in  some  remarkable  way 
assert  himself  and  escape  and  get  the  victory 
over  them.  In  this,  however,  they  had  been  dis- 
appointed. His  views  concerning  his  work,  its 
nature,  its  method,  its  scope,  were  different  from 
theirs  ;  and  while  they  were  looking  for  him  to 
appear  through  the  avoidance  of  death  as  the 
Redeemer  of  Israel,  he  was  preparing  himself  to 
become,  by  yielding  to  death,  the  Redeemer  of 
the  world. 


CHRIST  GREATER  THAN  OUR  THOUGHT.   2.03 

And  this  suggests  my  topic,  that  from  the 
beginning  of  Christian  history  God  has  been 
giving  to  men  a  concex)tion  of  Jesus  Christ 
which  was  greater  and  more  than  they  had 
thought  him  to  be.  Let  us  give  our  attention 
for  a  little  while  to  the  consideration  of  it.  It  is 
a  fact  as  indisputable  as  it  is  unique  that,  since 
Jesus  Christ  appeared  in  history,  the  thoughts 
of  men  everywhere  have  been  directed  toward 
him.  All  their  aspirations  have  sooner  or  later 
touched  him,  and  all  their  inquiries  of  what- 
ever sort,  moral  and  intellectual,  have  found 
their  climax  in  him.  It  was  but  natural,  there- 
fore, that  they  should  try  to  express,  and  in  some 
formal  way,  what  they  thought  of  him,  who  was 
always  somehow  coming  into  their  thought ;  and 
however  much  some  persons  to-day  may  be 
averse  to  creeds,  may  de^Drecate  their  existence 
— it  was  simply  inevitable  that  they  should  ap- 
pear, as  in  fact  they  have  appeared  in  Chris- 
tendom from  the  outset. 

It  is  also  a  fact  that  none  of  these  creeds  have 
been  final,  though  men  often  thought  that  they 
were  and  put  them  forth  as  such.  But  another 
age  has  come  with  another  line  of  inquiry  run- 
ning into  and  merging  itself  in  another  and  richer 
conception  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  another  creed  has 


254     CHRIST   GPwEATEE  THAIST   OUR   THOUGHT. 

appeared.  The  Apostolic  symbol,  or  the  Apos- 
tles' creed,  as  we  call  it,  however  it  came  to  be, 
and  which  was  at  first  quite  enough,  was  by  and 
by  developed  into  the  Nicene  Creed,  as  that  again 
was  revised  and  supplemented  "and  made  some- 
what larger  than  it  was  in  its  primitive  form. 
And  so  the  work  went  on,  the  earlier  creed  was 
developed  into  and  swallowed  up  in  the  later, 
receiving  new  and  further  interpretation  from  it. 
For  a  long  time,  I  know,  this  process  of  l^creed- 
development  stopped,  but  then  it  was  a  time 
when  nearly  all  original  thinking  and  investiga- 
tion had  stopped.  During  the  Middle  Ages — 
the  Dark  Ages,  as  we  sometimes  call  them — the 
Church  was  almost  at  a  standstill,  or  was  simply 
going  round  in  its  beaten  path,  threshing  its  old 
straw  over  and  over  again  and  finding  its  moral 
and  spiritual  food  in  its  old  conventional  phrases, 
that  had  become  conventional  husks. 

When,  however,  at  the  time  of  the  Renaissance, 
Greece  crossed  the  Alps  and  came  into  Western 
Europe,  a  new  activity  came,  new  and  strange 
questions  were  started  in  men's  minds,  new  forces 
were  liberated  in  society,  new  hopes,  new  aspira- 
tions dawned,  and  a  new  horizon  appeared.  Then 
it  was,  when  the  minds  of  men  began  to  move  and 
work  again,  and  to  ask  new  questions  and  to  i^ro- 


CHRIST   GREATER  THAN   OUR  THOUGHT.      255 

ceed  in  new  directions,  that  new  doctrinal  state- 
ments concerning  Jesus  Christ  and  his  truth 
began  to  appear  again.  And  it  is  a  simple  fact 
of  history  that,  during  the  short  j)eriod  of  thirty 
years,  at  the  close  of  tlie  Reformation,  more 
than  twenty  dogmatic  Confessions  of  Faith  were 
added  to  the  three  great  creeds  which  had  here- 
tofore sufficed  for  the  whole  of  the  Christian 
world.  And  these  creeds  were  put  forth  by  men 
who  did  not  doubt  the  old  ones,  but  who  said  to 
themselves  and  said  wisely,  "  The  old  ones  need 
further  finish  and  statement  to  make  them  com- 
prehensive and  coordinate  with  the  new  and 
additional  facts,  forces,  thoughts,  which  the  new 
situation  reveals." 

And  Avhat  was  the  result  ?  Can  any  man  fail 
to  see  it,  except  him  whose  eyes  are  so  blinded 
by  prejudice  that  he  cannot  see  any  fact  which 
makes  against  him,  be  it  ever  so  clear  ?  What 
was  the  result  of  all  this  theological  and  ecclesi- 
astical ferment  and  discussion  and  controversy 
at  the  time  of  the  Reformation '?  Christian  faith 
was  not  destroyed  or  hurt  or  weakened  by  it,  but 
strengthened  rather,  and  helped.  Jesus  Christ 
became  not  less  to  men,  but  more  than  ever 
before  ;  doing  more  for  them,  a^Dpealing  more  to 
them,  quickening  their  zeal,  deepening  their  love, 


253  CHRIST  GKEATER  THAN  OUR  THOUGHT. 

expanding  their  vision  of  him — a  richer,  larger, 
dearer  Christ  than  men  had  thought  him  to  be. 

Thus,  in  looking  back  with  a  necessarily  short 
review  over  the  history  of  Christendom,  we  find, 
I  say,  this  fact :  that  no  one  period  in  it  has 
given  full  and  final  statement  concerning  God 
in  Jesus  Christ  and  the  truth  of  God  which  he 
revealed :  but  that  from  the  outset,  from  the  time 
when  he  was  looked  upon  by  his  first  disciples 
as  the  Redeemer  of  Israel  only,  he  has  been 
coming  to  men  as  something  larger  and  more 
than  the  scope  of  their  thought  concerning  him. 

Well,  men  and  women,  shall  we  learn  and  profit 
by  this  lesson  of  history — we  who  are  living  at 
a  time  like  that  of  the  Renaissance  ;  when  new 
forces  have  been  liberated  in  society,  when  new 
facts  have  been  disclosed  by  physical  science, 
when  new  and  strange  processes  of  thinking  are 
moving  and  working  in  men's  minds  ;  shall  we 
profit  by  this  lesson  of^iistory  ?  Or  must  we 
feel,  as  some  do,  that  this  "modern  thought,"  as 
it  is  termed,  is  hostile  to  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
truth  he  embodied  and  taught,  and  that,  there- 
fore, it  is  our  duty  to  fight  against  and  resist  it  ? 
It  seems  to  me  that  this,  while  zealous,  would  be 
most  unwise. 

Old  Ludovico  Vives,  Thomas  Carlyle  tells  us, 


CHRIST   GREATER  THAN   OUR  THOUGHT.      267 

relates  tlie  story  of  a  countryman  wlio  fell  afoul 
Ills  barnyard  beast  and  slew  it  because,  forsooth,  it 
had  drunk  up  the  moon  ;  but  it  was  not  the  moon 
which  the  beast  had  drunk  up,  but  simply  the 
reflection  of  the  moon  in  the  countryman's  own 
poor  water  pail.  This  beast  of  "modern  thought," 
as  some  persons  would  characterize  it,  has  not 
destroyed  Jesus  Christ,  is  not  undermining  his 
power  over  the  heart  and  mind  of  the  world, 
though  sometimes,  perhaps,  it  appears  to  do  so, 
as  did,  I  presume,  the  countryman's  beast  the 
moon  ;  it  is  simply  destroying  some  little  piece, 
or  part,  some  little  imperfect  fragment,  of  our 
reflection  of  Christ. 

Has  it  not  been  so  in  our  own  past  career  ? 
Have  there  not  been  some  changes  in  our  concep- 
tion of  Christ,  and  of  the  truth  of  God  which  he 
taught  and  revealed  ?  I  submit  it  to  you,  do  you 
hold  precisely,  and  in  all  particulars,  the  faith 
that  you  learned  in  your  childhood  ?  Have  you 
made  no  progress  in  your  interpretation  of  it ; 
going  down  to  its  deeper  depths,  rising  uj)  and 
scaling  its  higher  heights,  and  giving  wider  scope 
and  horizon  to  it  ?  Then  you  have  done  no 
thinking,  and  have  been  like  the  Church  in  the 
Middle  Ages — at  a  standstill.  But  that,  I  am 
sure,  has  not  been  the  case.    How  often  have  I 


258     CHRIST   GREATER  THAN   OUR  THOUGHT. 

lieard  men  say  :  "  We  were  brouglit  up  to  believe 
thus  and  so,"  and  then  they  have  tokl  me  stories 
of  what  their  teachers  taught  them,  or  their 
fathers,  good  Christian  men,  made  them  do ;  of 
how  tlieir  minister  preached  and  of  the  sermons 
they  used  to  hear,  and  how  at  times  they  were 
frightened  by  them  and  kept  awake  at  nights. 
I  am  sure  tliat  must  have  been  the  case  with 
many  in  this  congregation. 

Well,  would  yon  go  back  to  them  now  ?  Can 
you  go  back  to  them  now  ?  If  you  did,  you  would 
find  that  they  are  not  there  ;  that  the  old  teach- 
ers and  preachers  have  themselves  changed,  and 
that  even  the  most  conservative  man  has  modified 
to  some  extent — I  should  say,  has  grown  in  his 
apprehension  of  the  truth  of  God  revealed  in 
Jesns  Christ.  And  if  it  has  been  so,  why  should 
it  not  be  so  again?  Why  should  it  not  be  so 
now  ?  Is  there  any  man  prepared  to  say  :  "My 
conception  of  Christ  is  perfect  and  entire,  my 
thought  reflects  him  wholly,  my  creed  reveals 
him  fully  ;  I  know  all  that  can  be  said  about 
him,  and  no  one  to-day  or  to-morrow  can  tell  me 
anything  more"  ? 

And  if  he  cannot  say  so,  why  should  he  not 
listen  to  what  to-day  or  to-morrow  men  may  have 
to  tell  him  ?    It  may  be  something  new,  some- 


CHRIST  GREATEE  THAK  OUR  THOUGHT.   259 

tiling  strange  and  different  from  what  he  lias 
held  before  ;  it  may  modify  and  change  a  little 
his  previous  way  of  thinking.  But  suppose  it 
does.  You  remember  the  story  that  Lecky  tells, 
in  one  of  his  books,  of  the  prisoner  into 
whose  cell  the  light  came  through  a  little 
crack  in  the  wall,  and  who  remonstrated  bit- 
terly against  the  destruction  of  the  wall  be- 
cause it  would  destroy  the  crack  through  which 
the  daylight  came.  Possibly  some  of  us  have 
been  looking  at  this  wonderful  Jesus  Christ, 
more  wonderful  than  the  richest  and  best  thought, 
through  little  cracks  in  the  wall  erected  by 
prejudice  and  j)repossession  and  denominational 
zeal,  and  if  it  be  the  effect  of  what  we  call 
"modern  thought"  to  destroy  the  wall,  the 
ultimate  result  will  be  to  make  Jesus  Christ,  the 
heart  of  history,  the  hope  of  the  ages,  the  light 
of  the  world,  not  something  less,  but  something 
greater  and  more. 

And  that  I  wish  to  make  the  burden  of  my 
sermon  to-day.  I  do  not  wish  anyone  to  go 
away  this  morning  and  say  :  "The  preacher  was 
in  sympathy  with  modern  destructive  criticism, 
with  all  those  who  are  trying  to  hurt  or  weaken 
Christian  faith."  Ah,  no !  If  that  were  the 
case,  I  would  not  only  preach  no  sermon  to-day, 


260  CHRIST  GREATER  THAN  OUR  THOUGHT. 

but  I  would  preach  no  sermon  ever,  and  my 
mouth  would  be  closed.  But  my  aim  is  just  the 
opposite  of  that ;  my  purpose  is  to  make  you  feel, 
as  I  do  so  strongly,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  not  less, 
but  more,  than  what  we  as  yet  have  apprehended 
him  to  be  ;  that  he  will  become,  through  all  this 
ferment  of  modern  discussion  and  criticism  and 
controversy  a  larger,  richer,  dearer  Christ,  and  a 
greater  Redeemer  and  a  more  precious  Saviour 
to  us. 

No  one,  it  seems  to  me,  who  has  learned  to 
look  at  the  present  in  the  light  of  the  past, 
through  the  medium  of  an  historic  judgment,  can 
doubt  that  for  a  moment.  Such  an  one  does  not 
stand  simply  on  the  shifting  sands  of  to-day, 
but  on  the  rock  that  is  under  to-day,  and  believ- 
ing in  the  living  God  of  history,  and  in  his  living 
Christ,  he  stands  securely  there.  The  tempests 
rage,  the  winds  sweep  and  blow,  the  floods  lift 
up  their  waves — some  little  piece  or  fragment 
that  has  obscured  our  outlook  of  this  wonderful 
Christ  may  be  carried  away ;  it  matters  not,  I 
care  not,  for  Christ  is  more  and  more,  and  will 
become,  more  and  more,  the  Helper,  the  Friend, 
the  Redeemer,  the  Saviour  of  mankind. 

Do  we  not  see  some  little  sign  in  evidence  of  it 
already  ?    Is  there  not  coming  to  people  to-day 


CHRIST  GREATER  THAW  OUR  THOUGHT.   261 

that  larger  conception  of  Christ  which  is  born  of 
personal  loyalty  and  love  ?  What  is  the  mean- 
ing of  that  impatience  with  doctrinal  preaching 
which  you  and  others  express  ? 

What  is  the  significance  of  the  fact  that  the 
preachers  to-day  do  not  and  cannot  make  the 
doctrines  so  prominent  in  preaching  ?  What 
does  it  mean?  Not  that  the  old  doctrines  are 
not  good  and  at  times  helpful,  of  great  service  to 
us  and  must  be  presented  and  taught,  but  that 
love  for  Jesus  Christ  and  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ 
is  something  better  and  more.  This,  therefore, 
above  all  else  is  what  the  Church  to-day  is  trying 
to  iDromote :  to  make  the  great  constituency  of 
its  membership,  the  men  and  women  who  are 
gathered  in  our  congregations  and  the  children 
in  our  families  and  our  Sunday  schools,  lovers 
of  Jesus  Christ,  the  great,  strong,  and  mighty 
lover  of  human  souls.  Then  with  this  love  for 
Christ  in  their  hearts,  the  creeds  will  be  no 
obstacle  and  difficulty  in  their  way.  They  will 
look  back  over  the  creeds  of  Christendom,  and 
will  be  glad  and  rejoice  that  men  in  the  past 
have  said  such  wonderful  things  about  him  ;  will 
feel  that  it  has  not  been  too  strong,  that  it  has 
not  been  too  much — oh,  how  can  too  much  ever 
be  said  of  One  whom  more  than  life  we  love  ! — • 


262     CHEIST   GEEATER  THAN   OUR  THOUGHT, 

that  it  has  not  been  enough,  that  it  might  have 
been  much  more.  Creeds  and  doctrines  will  not 
become  abstract  propositions  to  them,  to  be  dis- 
cussed with  controversial  temper.  They  will  go 
to  the  heart  of  the  creeds,  will  see  that  they  are 
but  a  testimony  all  too  feeble  of  that  personal 
love  and  loyalty  to  Christ  which  they  themselves 
possess.  Yes,  this  larger  Christ  is  coming  to 
men  to-day,  and  the  world  is  beginning  to  see 
that  however  good  and  true  and  valuable  the 
creeds  may  be,  the  Christ  who  touches  the  heart, 
to  whom  the  heart  responds,  who  makes  it  aflame 
with  personal  love  and  loyalty  to  himself,  is 
greater  and  better  than  they. 

Is  it  not  also  being  borne  in  upon  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  Christian  Church  to-day  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  not  simply  the  Redeemer  of 
Israel,  a  choice  and  favored  few,  but  that  he  is 
the  Redeemer  of  the  world  and  the  whole  world  ? 
Is  it  not  beginning  more  and  more  to  appear  that 
the  Christ  of  the  rich  and  cultivated  man  is  the 
Christ  of  the  illiterate  and  the  poor  ;  that  the 
Christ  of  the  capitalist  and  the  millionaire  is  the 
Christ  of  the  laboring  man  and  the  pauper,  of 
the  white  man  and  the  black,  of  the  copper- 
colored  Mongolian  and  the  red-faced  Indian 
savage?    Is  it  not  becoming  evident  that  the 


CHRIST  GREATER  THAN   OUR  THOUGHT.      2G3 

Christ  of  those  who  come  from  pleasant  and 
comfortable  homes  along  our  avenues  to  our 
Episcopal  churches  is  the  Christ  of  those  wlio 
have  no  homes,  who  are  wandering  homeless 
through  our  streets,  or  crowded  into  our  tene- 
ment houses  and  finding  shelter  there — the 
Christ,  not  of  the  few,  but  the  Redeemer  of  all  ? 

Sometimes  we  have  thought,  or  some  of  us 
have  thought,  that  Christ  indeed  was  to  be  the 
Redeemer  of  America ;  that  the  Christian  reli- 
gion was  especially  adapted  to  us  but  not  fitted 
exactly  for  other  nations.  But  China  is  opening 
her  doors  to-day,  Japan  is  opening  her  doors, 
the  fields  of  India  are  white  for  the  harvest,  and 
the  Christ  who  is  the  Redeemer  of  the  American 
nation,  we  are  more  and  more  being  driven  to 
see  is  the  Redeemer  of  the  world. 

And  finally,  should  not  this  very  day  with,  its 
sweet  and  holy  associations  and  inspirations  give 
us  this  larger  conception  of  Christ  ?  For  I  have 
not  forgotten  that  this  is  All  Saints'  Day — the 
day  of  all  the  tribes  and  kindreds  and  nations 
and  tongues,  as  we  heard  just  now  in  the  Epistle. 
The  saints  of  all  the  ages,  of  all  the  lands,  of  all 
the  faiths  we  commemorate  to-day ;  the  saints 
of  our  household,  and  the  saints  of  all  the 
households  ;  of  the  men  and  women  everywhere 


264     CHRIST   GREATER  THAN   OUR   THOUGHT. 

for  whom  Christ  lived  and  died,  and  who  lived 
and  died  for  him  ;  upon  whom,  as  his  true  and 
faithful  witnesses,  he  has  set  his  seal,  and  whom 
now,  their  warfare  over  and  their  victory  won,  in 
some  bright  and  happy  world  he  has  gathered 
around  himself.  By  the  inspiration  of  this  fes- 
tival day  we  are  made  to  see  that  the  Redeemer 
of  our  little  Israel  is  the  Redeemer  of  the  world. 
This  is  the  refrain  which  I  have  wanted  you 
to  hear  running  through  the  sermon  to-day,  to 
make  you  feel  that  Jesus  Christ  throughout  all 
the  ages  has  been  becoming  more  and  more  to 
the  world.  May  he  become  more  and  more  to  us, 
unfolding  to  our  hearts,  as  the  years  go  quickly 
by,  a  larger  and  richer  vision  of  his  own  eternal 
self! 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  THE  RESURRECTION. 

Remeniber  that  Jesus  Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead,  according 
to  my  gospel.— 2  Timothy  ii.  8. 

The  gospel  of  the  Resurrection  which  we 
commemorate  to-day  was  in  an  especial  sense 
the  gospel  preached  by  St.  Paul,  from  which 
he  gathered  his  courage,  his  inspiration,  his 
hope,  his  brightest  dreams  for  the  future,  and 
to  which,  in  all  his  writings,  he  gave  the  promi- 
nent place.  With  the  preaching  of  that  gospel 
he  began  his  ministry  and  closed  it,  "I 
delivered  unto  you  first  of  all,"  he  writes  in 
his  earliest  letter  to  the  Corinthian  Church, 
"that  which  I  also  received,  how  that  Jesus 
Christ  died  for  our  sins  and  that  he  rose  again." 
And  when,  as  Paul  the  aged,  he  is  about  to  pass 
away  from  the  scene  of  his  earthly  warfare,  in 
writing  to  his  son,  Timothy,  in  the  faith,  he 
gives  the  parting  message  as  though  it  were  the 
thing  which  above  all  else  he  would  have  him 
bear  in  mind:  "Remember — remember  that 
Jesus  Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead," 

That,  I  say,  was  the  special  message  preached 


266       THE   GOSPEL   OF   THE   RESURRECTION. 

by  St.  Paul,  wliicli  lie  called  his  gospel,  because 
he  preached  it  so  often,  and  which  this  Easter 
Day  is  preaching  now  to  the  world.  It  would 
be  enough,  perhaps,  to  let  the  day  itself 
preach,  and  testify  to  the  joy  it  inspires,  and  to 
which,  by  blooming  flower  and  brilliant  color 
and  jubilant  strains  of  music,  we  are  trying  to 
give  expression — to  let  the  day  itself  preach, 
and  testify,  by  the  joy  it  inspires,  to  the  reality 
of  the  fact  and  faith  which  it  represents,  thus 
assuring  our  hearts  that  that  which  makes  us  all 
so  glad  this  Easter  day  certainly  must  be  true. 

But  with  the  hope  of  confirming  your  faith  in 
it,  let  me  try  this  morning  to  say  a  few  things 
about  it,  and  first  this  : 

The  gospel  of  the  Resurrection  is  not  a  new 
gospel ;  it  is  the  natural  outgrowth  from  the 
Good  Friday  gospel.  During  the  past  week  we 
have  been  studying  that  gospel,  and  trying  to 
learn  and  take  to  heart  the  lesson  which  it 
teaches,  of  the  infinite  love  of  God.  That  is  the 
Good  Friday  gospel — the  gospel  of  the  Cross  ; 
and  a  glorious  gospel  it  is,  in  which,  as  we  saw 
last  Sunday,  St.  Paul  so  much  rejoiced. 

See  what  follows  from  it.  The  tendency  of 
love,  the  desire  of  love,  is  to  give  the  best 
it    can — to  give    its    very    life,    its   very   selfj 


THE   GOSPEL   OF  THE   RESURRECTION.         267 

and  tlie  greater  the  love,  tlie  stronger  is  the 
tendency  and  the  greater  the  desire.  We  go  to 
one  who  is  dear  to  us,  and  say,  "Let  me  do 
something  for  you.  Are  you  in  trouble  ?  Let 
me  help  you  to  bear  it.  Are  you  in  want  ?  Let 
me  supi^ly  it.  Do  you  stand  in  need  of  a  friend 
at  this  particular  juncture,  to  serve  you  in  your 
distress?  Let  me  be  that  friend,"  and  how 
grieved,  how  disax)pointed  we  are  when  we  find 
that  we  cannot  be  of  any  assistance  to  him. 
That,  I  say,  is  the  law,  is  the  nature  of  love ; 
nothing  is  too  high,  too  costly  for  it,  no  sacrifice 
too  great ;  it  delights,  it  revels  in  sacrifice,  and 
is  forever  trying  to  give  its  joy,  its  substance, 
its  life,  to  those  who  call  it  forth. 

Men  and  women,  is  it  not  so  ?  If,  then,  the 
love  of  God  be  anything  like  our  own,  it  must 
have  that  same  inclination  in  it,  and  be  spon- 
taneously actuated  by  that  same  desire.  But 
the  love  of  God,  while  like  our  own,  is  very 
much  greater  than  ours.  It  is  an  eternal  love. 
'No  amount  of  human  sin,  so  Good  Friday 
taught  us,  can  overcome  and  destroy  it.  It 
meets  it  at  its  worst,  its  highest  point  of  develop- 
ment, feels  its  full  malignity,  suffers  all  it  can 
do,  all  the  pain  it  can  inflict,  the  insult  which  it 
can  offer,  mockery,  scourging,   shame,  yet  gets 


268        THE   GOSPEL   OF  THE   RESURRECTION. 

the  victory  over  it.  Waters  cannot  qnencli  it ; 
waves  cannot  drown  it ;  flames  cannot  consume 
it.  It  is  an  eternal,  an  inexhaustible  love,  and 
therefore  must — it  is  a  necessity — be  forever 
trying  to  give  its  own  eternal  life  to  men. 

So  we  see  how  the  gospel  of  the  Resurrection 
seems  to  spring  by  a  natural  outgrowth  from  the 
gospel  of  Good  Friday,  and  Easter  is  written 
upon  the  Cross. 

Again,  it  is  the  instinct, — those  of  you  who 
know  what  love  is  know  that  it  is  so, — it  is  the 
instinct,  it  is  the  nature  of  one  who  loves  to 
keep  forever  near  him  the  persons  whom  he 
loves.  "Father,  I  will  that  those  whom  thou 
hast  given  me  be  with  me  where  I  am."  That  is 
the  voice,  not  only  of  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
it  is  the  voice  of  all  love.  That  is  the  way  in 
which  it  always  speaks.  Can  you  not  under- 
stand it?  Has  it  not  often  so  spoken  in  your 
hearts?  Is  it  not  so  speaking  in  the  hearts  of 
men  and  women  to-day  all  over  the  face  of  the 
earth?  It  is  the  burden  of  the  prayer  that  is 
going  up  from  the  bedside  where  love  is  kneel- 
ing down  and  saying  in  behalf  of  those  who  are 
lying  there  and  upon  whom  the  shadow  of  death 
is  falling,  "I  will  that  those  whom  thou  hast 
given  me  be  with  me  where  I  am." 


THE  GOSPEL   OF  THE   RESURRECTION,         269 

Tliat  is  wliat  love  is  always  trying  to  do  ;  to 
gather  tliose  around  itself  upon  whom  it  is 
bestowed,  and  to  keep  tliem  there,  and  whose 
utterance  to  this  effect  we  are  made  to  hear 
wherever  love  prevails  ;  in  the  circle  of  friend- 
ship, in  the  family  life,  in  the  household  re- 
unions on  the  anniversary  days — "that  those 
whom  thou  hast  given  me  be  with  me  where  I 
am."  At  the  baj^tismal  font,  where  the  parent 
tries  to  fold  his  child  more  closely  to  his  heart, 
to  bring  it  more  intimately  into  that  Christian 
faith  where  he  himself  is  standing  ;  at  the  mar- 
riage altar,  where  the  holy  union  is  formed  which 
only  an  act  of  God  or  an  act  of  treachery  can 
break  ;  at  the  open  grave,  where  love  is  stronger 
than  death,  where  it  cannot  help  protesting,  as 
against  an  unnatural  thing,  at  the  severance 
which  death  has  made  ;  yes,  everywhere,  on 
every  occasion,  where  love  lights  up  and  warms 
the  heart,  this  is  the  voice  we  hear :  "That  those 
whom  thou  hast  given  me  be  with  me  where  I 
am." 

Again  I  say,  men  and  women,  that  if  the  love 
of  God  be  anything  like  our  own,  if  it  be  love  at 
all  in  any  legitimate  sense  of  the  term,  it  must 
feel  as  we  do,  and  have  the  same  desire  (or  it  is 
not  love)  to  keep  the  life  that  it  loves  forever 


270       THE   GOSPEL   OF   THE-  KESUKRECTION. 

near  it  and  to  hold  it  fast.  It  was  in  the  con- 
fident assurance  of  that  eternal  love,  because  he 
felt  it  more  than  we,  and  saw  more  deeply  into 
its  own  essential  nature,  that  Jesus  Christ 
declared,  "My  sheep  hear  my  voice  and  they 
shall  never  perish  ;  nothing  shall  pluck  them 
out  of  my  father's  hand,  who  loves  them,  and  he 
will  keep  them  near  himself  and  hold  them 
fast." 

So  again  I  say  the  Resurrection  gospel  comes 
out  of  the  Good  Friday  gospel,  and  Easter  is 
written  on  the  Cross. 

Our  survival  of  death,  therefore,  resolves  itself 
simply  into  a  question  of  God's  ability.  We 
know  that  he  does  desire  to  keep  us  fast,  and 
not  to  let  us  perish,  because  he  loves  us.  That 
is  the  nature  of  love,  the  one  thing  in  ethics  of 
which  we  can  be  sure,  as  of  a  demonstration  ; 
that  is  the  nature  of  love. 

God  does  desire  to  keep  us  and  to  hold  us  fast 
and  not  to  let  us  perish.  The  question  is.  Can 
he  do  it ?  and  when  it  comes  to  that  "can  he  do 
it  ?" — the  God,  whose  power  is  so  great  that  we 
can  trace  no  boundary  around  it,  can  set  no  limit 
to  it,  and  of  which  we  are  forced  to  say  that  it  is 
an  immeasurable  powder — when  that  becomes  the 
question,  it  is  no  longer  a  question.     Yes,  and 


THE   GOSPEL   OF   THE   RESURRECTION.         271 

more  tlian  tliat ;  it  resolves  itself  simply  into  a 
question  of  God's  existence.  For  every  instinct 
of  the  human  heart,  apart  from  the  teaching  of 
religion,  tells  us  that  God  is  supremely  good. 
There  can  be  no  other  God  than  a  good  God, 
and  what  is  goodness  but  love  ?  and  it  is  this 
belief  of  man  in  infinite  goodness  or  love,  com- 
bined with  infinite  power,  which  has  inspired  his 
heart  with  the  inextinguishable  hope  of  an  im- 
mortal life,  and  which  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ  confirms. 

It  is  not  necessary,  therefore,  that  we  should 
go  to-day  into  questions  of  historical  evi- 
dence to  prove  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ 
from  the  dead,  although  such  evidence  exists  and 
abounds.  There  is  first  the  undoubted  fact  that 
immediately  after  the  crushing  disappointment 
of  the  Crucifixion,  some  events  did  occur  which 
suddenly  gave  a  joyful  animation  and  a  wide 
expansion  to  the  whole  Christian  Church.  Then 
we  have  the  testimony  of  all  the  disciples  that 
that  event  was  nothing  less  than  the  Resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  and  then 
again,  there  is  no  other  competing  theory  upon 
the  subject  that  has  stood  the  test  of  critical 
examination  or  that  is  worthy  of  a  moment's 
consideration. 


272       THE  GOSPEL   OF  THE   RESUREECTION. 

But  these  are  questions  wliich  all  persons  are 
not  qualified  to  entertain  and  to  debate  ;  neither 
is  it  necessary.  Believe  in  the  eternal  love  of 
God,  and  the  Eesurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from 
the  dead,  instead  of  seeming  to  you  an  improba- 
ble thing,  with  many  presumptions  against  it,, 
will  be  in  the  line  of  what  you  are  led  to  expect. 

With  that  inward  temper  and  predisposition 
toward  it,  the  evidences  which  have  come  down 
will  be  full  and  ample,  and  more  than  sufficient 
for  you.  Without  that  inward  temper  and  pre- 
disjposition  toward  it,  no  amount  of  historical 
evidence  would  convince  you,  even  though  one 
should  rise  from  the  dead  this  Easter  Day  before 
your  very  eyes.  You  would  say  that  he  was 
simply  awakened  from  a  trance,  or  that  there 
was  some  illusion  in  it. 

"  People  as  a  rule  do  not  believe  a  thing," 
says  Professor  Mozley,  "on  the  strength  of 
external  evidence  alone."  There  must  be  some 
sympathy,  some  kindred  feeling  for  it,  or  they 
cannot  come  into  the  persuasion  or  even  api3reci- 
ation  of  it.  If  Columbus  had  not  had  in  him 
the  spirit  of  discovery,  to  use  Dr.  Mozley' s  illus- 
tration, he  would  never  have  seen  the  evidences 
which  he  did  see  in  behalf  of  a  western  hemi- 
sphere   lying    beyond    tho    hitherto    trackless 


THE   GOSPEL   OF  THE   EESURRECTION.         273 

waters,  could  never  have  rightly  interpreted  the 
different  scattered  facts  which  threw  some  light 
upon  it,  and  which  bore  in  upon  his  mind  the 
conviction  that  the  continent  was  there.  And  it 
is  only  when  we  have  that  spirit  of  eternal  love 
in  our  hearts  which  we  have  been  commemorating 
during  the  past  week  that  we  can  appreciate  at 
their  full  worth  and  value  the  historical  evi- 
dences that  have  come  down  to  us  in  behalf  of 
the  Resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead, 
and  believe  that  eternal  love  has  given  eternal  life. 
And  now,  having  tried  to  show  you  that  the 
gospel  of  the  Resurrection  comes  out  of  the 
Good  Friday  gospel,  let  me  proceed  as  briefly  as 
I  can  to  speak  of  the  blessedness  of  that  gospel, 
and  of  the  glory  which  it  throws  around  this 
mortal  span  of  our  earthly  life.  I  am  not  dis- 
posed to  depreciate  the  importance  and  blessed- 
ness of  this  earthly  life.  I  certainly  do  not 
think  that  our  time  here  should  be  spent  in  the 
absorbing  contemplation  of  the  hereafter,  and 
that  all  the  pleasures  of  existence  in  this  world 
should  be  surrendered  by  us  as  though  they 
were  of  no  account.  They  are  of  much  account. 
It  is  a  glorious  world.  Can  a  man  open  his  eyes 
in  it  this  bright  Easter  morning  and  not  believe 
it  ?    God  made  it. 


274       THE   GOSPEL   OF  THE   UESUREECTION. 

It  is  a  glorious  thing  simply  to  be  alive,  to  feel 
strength  and  vigor  bounding  through  our  frames, 
to  grow  in  heart  and  mind,  and  enrich  ourselves 
with  affection,  to  see  new  forms  of  beauty,  to 
catch  new  visions  of  right,  to  come  into  contact 
more  and  more  with  truth,  to  rejoice  in  the 
splendid  conquests  over  his  earthly  environment 
which  the  spirit  of  man  has  effected,  to  behold 
from  year  to  year,  almost  from  day  to  day,  a 
better  knowledge,  a  higher  wisdom,  a  fuller 
light,  streaming  in  upon  him  and  giving  thereby 
a  wider  horizon  to  him. 

It  is  a  glorious  thing  just  to  be  alive.  But, 
ah  !  how  much  more  glorious  it  is  when  we  know 
that  the  life  in  which  we  rejoice  will  go  on  and 
not  die ;  that  when  this  house  of  clay,  beau- 
tifully and  wonderfully  made,  yet  this  house 
of  clay  shall  have  |been  taken  down ;  when  it 
shall  have  become  too  fragile  and  weather-beaten 
by  the  storms  of  earth  to  hold  us  any  more, 
we  shall  not  be  cast  out  to  perish,  but  shall  sim- 
ply move  on  into  some  better  and  roomier  house 
which  the  eternal  love  that  holds  us  fast  has 
provided  for  us.  It  is  sweet  and  good  to  live, 
but  how  much  sweeter  and  better  when  we  know 
that  what  we  call  death  will  be  merely  a  letting 
go  of  that  which  we  can  no  longer  hold,  a  casting 


THE  GOSPEL   OF   THE    KESURKECTION.         275 

off  of  that  which  can  no  longer  serve  us,  a  going 
out  from  that  which  is  but  a  prison  door,  and 
when  everything  that  is  mortal  about  us  will 
be  swallowed  up  in  the  more  abundant  life. 

What  a  much  more  glorious  thing  is  that,  and 
what  glory  does  it  give  to  our  earthly  life  ! 

Again,  while  it  would  still  be  our  duty,  even 
if  there  Avere  no  prospect  of  another  world,  to 
live  a  high  and  noble  life, — no  man  can  question 
that, — to  do  justly,  to  love  mercy,  to  live  purely, 
to  meet  with  a  brave  and  resolute  front  the 
difficulties  of  our  lot,  and  to  take  an  earnest  and 
active  part  in  all  humanitarian  and  educational 
work  ;  how  much  more  efficiently  will  we  perform 
that  duty  in  the  light  of  the  Easter  hope  ?  While 
it  would  still  be  our  duty  to  put  our  shoulder 
to  the  chariot  wheel  of  human  progress  when 
it  drags  heavily,  to  do  all  in  our  power  for  the 
advancement  and  enlightenment  of  our  fellow- 
men  and  to  make  both  ourselves  and  the  world 
as  pure  and  bright  and  fair  as  we  possibly 
could,  yet  how  much  more  bravely  will  we 
enter  upon  that  duty,  and  how  much  more 
efficiently  will  we  X)erform  it,  when  the  broad 
bright  arch  of  an  eternal  life  is  stretched  over 
our  heads  and  light  from  heaven  shines  upon 
our  path  ! 


276   THE  GOSPEL  OF  THE  UESURRECTION". 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  mariner  to  carry  his  ves- 
sel across  the  waters.  His  duty  is  on  the  ship, 
and  he  must  not  let  it  go  without  him.  He 
must  keep  it  balanced  and  trimmed,  and  stand 
at  the  post  of  dangei  ;  must  protect  the  varied 
interests  which  have  been  committed  to  him,  and 
at  the  cost  of  his  life,  must  try  to  conduct  them 
in  safety  to  the  haven  where  they  would  be.  His 
duty  is  on  the  ship.  But,  ah !  how  much  more 
efficiently  will  he  perform  his  duty,  how  much 
stouter  his  heart,  how  much  higher  his  courage, 
how  much  greater  the  confidence  which  he  pos- 
sesses in  himself  and  which  he  inspires  in  others, 
how  much  more  intelligent  his  commands,  when 
from  time  to  time  he  can  look  at  the  heavens 
above  him  and  find  from  the  lights  that  are 
shining  there  the  path  upon  the  watery  waste 
in  which  the  vessel  should  move,  and  in  which 
through  storm  and  wind  and  wave,  he  is  trying 
to  guide  and  keep  it ! 

So  does  the  glad  gospel  of  this  Easter  Day,  and 
the  bright  vision  which  it  gives  of  an  eternal  life, 
put  new  courage,  new  strength,  new  intelligence 
into  our  task.  Can  any  man  doubt  it  ?  Does  it 
not  take  the  efforts  which  we  make  in  this  world 
in  behalf  of  our  fellow-men,  transfigure  them 
with  its  brightness,  ennoble  them  with  its  far- 


THE   GOSPEL   OF   THE   RESURRECTION.         277 

reaching  outlook,  and  throw  a  new  glory  around 
them? 

And  yet  again,  what  a  great  and  glorious  thing 
is  human  love  !  How  empty,  how  sad,  Iioav  dark 
the  world  without  it !  It  is  the  light  that  shines 
upon  lis  to  guide  us  on  our  way  and  illumine  the 
clouds  about  us  ;  our  shelter  from  the  stormy 
blast,  our  refuge  and  our  home.  It  sweetens 
the  bitterest  cup,  it  eases  the  heaviest  burden,  it 
lightens  the  darkest  day.  It  gives  to  the  heart 
in  which  it  dwells  a  joy  like  heaven  itself,  and 
although  it  also  gives  at  times  sorrow  as  deep 
and  strong  as  the  joy  was  high  and  great,  it  is 
still  the  best  and  sweetest  and  dearest  thing 
on  earth.  But  how  much  sweeter  and  better 
does  it  become  when  we  know  that  the  grave 
is  not  its  prison  house,  that  death  is  not  its 
destroyer,  that  it  is  ours  not  only  here  and  now, 
but  ours  forever,  and  that  somewhere,  somehow, 
sometime,  w^e  shall  find  what  we  have  lost ! 

Life,  duty,  love — these  are  glorious  words, 
none  higher  in  human  speech.  But  how  much 
more  glorious  do  they  become  when  they  are 
given  back  and  interpreted  to  us  in  the  light 
of  that  eternal  hope  which  this  Easter  Day 
inspires !  How  much  more  glorious,  how  much 
more  clear,   does  everything   become !     In    the 


278       THE   GOSPEL   OF   THE   KESURRECTION. 

light  of  that  hope  we  can  understand  our- 
selves as  we  cannot  without  it — as  no  man  can 
without  it.  Those  deep  and  earnest  longings 
which  spring  up  in  the  heart  only  so  often  to  be 
defeated  and  crushed,  those  yearnings  and  aspira- 
tions which  seem  to  come  from  some  eternal 
source,  and  to  which  we  try  to  give  utterance 
by  art  and  beauty  and  song,  but  which  we 
cannot  fully  in  any  of  these  ways  express ;  it  is 
only  in  the  light  of  that  eternal  hope  which 
this  Easter  Day  inspires  that  we  can  interpret 
ourselves  to  ourselves  and  know  what  we  really 
mean,  and  what  we  really  are. 

Then  fill  the  churches  with  flowers,  and  let  the 
arches  ring  with  the  carols  of  children's  praise, 
and  the  most  triumphant  peals  of  music  which 
the  genius  of  man  has  insi:>ired;  let  everything 
that  is  beautiful  and  cheerful  and  bright  be 
called  upon  to  express  the  joy  that  is  in  our 
hearts  to-day.  Oh,  earth,  earth,  earth!  hear 
the  word  of  the  Lord  upon  this  Easter  Day.  In 
all  your  duties  and  tasks,  your  joys,  your  sor- 
rows, your  ambitions,  oh,  men  and  women! 
remember,  remember,  that  "Jesus  Christ  was 
raised  from  the  dead,"  and  that  eternal  love — it 
must  be  so— has  given  eternal  life. 


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